BackCentre announces home covid-19 vaccination services for elderly, disabled
The nodal officer designated for grievance redressal of differently abled persons will be responsible for the home vaccination services
PremiumNEW DELHI : Central government on Thursday announced to provide covid-19 vaccination at home for disabled, elderly and people with special needs.
The government recently issued guidelines for arranging for vaccination centres nearest to disabled and elderly known as--Near-to-Home covid vaccination centre (NHCVC)-- for elderly and differently abled citizens but now the vaccination services will be provided at the doorstep of the beneficiaries with the special needs.
“It is understood that there are still some persons who might be bed-ridden or have extremely restricted mobility or disability and/or special needs that may hamper their accessibility even to NHCVCs. It is advised that a line-list of such potential beneficiaries and their care-givers may be prepared in the catchment area of every planning unit and collated at district level. Subsequently, vaccination of such beneficiaries may be facilitated at their place of residence using mobile vaccination teams," union health secretary Rajesh Bhushan said in a letter written to states.
The nodal officer designated for grievance redressal of differently abled persons will be responsible for the home vaccination services. “I request you to kindly direct the concerned officials to initiate the process of line-listing of aforementioned beneficiaries and their vaccination at the earliest so that this vulnerable section of our community also receives full protection conferred by covid-19 vaccination," Bhushan asked the states.
While the country has already administered nearly 84 crores covid-19 vaccines doses, during the national vaccination drive, around 66% beneficiaries have received at least one shot and over 23% percent adult population is fully vaccinated.
The government said that throughout the implementation of the National covid-19 Vaccination Programme, it tried to ensure that the process of registration and vaccination of beneficiaries is citizen friendly and the access to vaccination is equitable. Customized citizen friendly interventions like Near-to-Home covid vaccination centre (NHCVC) for elderly and differently abled citizens was started in May 2021 and detailed SOP was issued in this regard to all States/UTs. Under this intervention alone, so far 16.13 crore doses have been administered, the government data showed.
Bhushan said that while such CVCs should continue to be functional, at the same time, it must also be ensured that other eves are also fully accessible to persons with disabilities as per the accessibility standards mandated under the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act 2016.
The government also said that the planning of such a drive (home vaccination) should be cognizant of the fact that 'Open Vial Policy' is not applicable on covid-19 vaccines, hence, the states should ensure that vaccine wastage is minimal and all SOPs related to maintenance of Cold Chain, prescribed temperature Safe Injections, Waste Disposal, Adverse Events Following Immunization etc. are followed diligently. “Appropriate awareness generation activities may also be undertaken to widely disseminate these special provisions for enhanced accessibility for vaccination to all the citizens," Bhushan said.
The government data showed that substantial proportion of vaccines have also been administered at Rural CVCs and there has been an equitable access to vaccinations. “There has been no impact of digital divide in the rural and urban India. A total of 1,82,208 (approx. 0.02%) ‘Other’ gender have also received vaccines during this period," said Bhushan.
Balram Bhargav, director general of Indian Council of Medical Research said that the paediatric covaxin has completed the phase 2/3 trials and the authorities should be taking a decision soon on the same. Similarly, V K Paul, Member Health, NITI Aayog said that the Zydus Cadila’s covid-19 vaccine for children would soon be launched in the national program. “We have made preparations for the same. We are in talks with the company over pricing of the vaccines. We will be communicating the final details soon," he said.
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