COVID-19 vaccination drive starts in Guwahati

The long-awaited COVID-19 vaccination drive has started in three hospitals of Guwahati on Saturday. Soon after Prime Minister Narendra Modi had launched the world’s largest COVID-19 vaccination drive in New Delhi, State Health Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma launched the COVID-19 vaccination drive at Guwahati Medical College Hospital (GMCH).

“Glorious Day! Following the Grand vision of Hon PM Sri @narendramodi, the ambitious #COVID19Vaccination drive has started in #Assam today, along with rest of India. Glad to join it at GMCH.

#LargestVaccineDrive #TogetherAgainstCOVID19 @MoHFW_INDIA @drharshvardhan @PMOIndia,” tweeted Himanta Biswa Sarma.

The first three COVID-19 vaccines were given to Dr Umesh Chandra Sarma, Dr Dhrubajyoti Bora and Dr Ilyas Ali at the GMCH on Saturday.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s COVID-19 vaccination launching ceremony was joined via video conferencing earlier by Himanta Biswa Sarma along with Minister of State for Health-Pijush Hazarika, Principal Secretary for Health-Samir Sinha, Commissioner Secretary for Health-Anurag Goel, National Health Mission Director-Dr. Lakshmanan S, Director of Health Services Assam-Munindra Nath Ngatey, GMCH Principal-Dr. Achyut Kr. Baishya and Superindent-Dr. Abhijit Sarma.

In Phase-1 of the vaccination drive, doctors and nurses will be vaccinated and in Phase-3, people above 50 years of age having co-morbid conditions will be vaccinated.

Sarma added, by April this year, around three lakh people will be vaccinated in the state.

Giving details about the COVID-19 vaccines, Dr Himanta Biswa Sarma said that a person would be immunised 45 days after the first dose. The second dose would be given 28 days after the first one, and after taking the second dose, it takes 14 days for a person to be immunized.

As many as 8,651 nurses and 1,300 doctors have been trained for the vaccination drive.

Dr Himanta Biswa Sarma also said that the vaccination drive in the Phase-1 of the drive would be free of cost. However, for Phase-3, people have to wait for the Government of India’s directive. The state health department has also trained 8,651 nurses for the vaccination drive, and 1,300 supervisors will be monitoring the nurses.

Also Read: COVID-19 vaccination drive in the Northeast: A bumpy ride ahead?