Follow inoculation protocols: Health dept tells CVCs

Kolkata: The state Health department has directed various district administrations to ensure that inoculation protocols are followed by the Covid Vaccination Centres (CVCs) across the state as it has come across several lapses.

Health officials found that side effects of people after getting vaccinated are not properly documented as the CVCs do not follow up the cases. The contact numbers of nodal officers at the CVCs are not shared with beneficiaries and as a result, many people do not know where to inform if they develop any side effects after getting the jab.

The Health officials also came to know that some CVCs do not properly disseminate information regarding the hospitals where one can get admission in case he/she develops any side effects.

Senior health officials have recently held a meeting in this regard where various issues related to vaccination were discussed at length. After vaccination started in the state, around 3.57 crore people have been given the shots but only 2,967 have developed side effects after receiving the vaccine. Before the vaccination was begun, training was conducted to make the health workers working at various centres aware as to what protocols need to be followed. But they are not being properly followed by some CVCs.

Questions were raised during the meeting on if the CVCs were submitting details regarding the side effects of the beneficiaries. The district health officials have been directed to keep a tab on the CVCs and to ensure that there is a smooth mechanism so that people can report their issues without any hassle.

There has been a clear instruction to all the CVCs — both government and private — by the Health department mentioning that all beneficiaries need to wait for half-an-hour after getting the jab. But in many centres, the method is not properly followed and there is hardly any surveillance by the CVC authorities. As per the information provided by the health officials in the districts to Swasthya Bhawan, around 97 per cent of those developing side effects had no major symptoms. Around 3 percent of them had complained about serious problems.