Staff Reporter
ITANAGAR, 26 Apr: With the second wave of Covid-19 raging across the country, the state’s health department is on a war footing to inoculate most of its prioritized citizens, from frontline workers to healthcare workers and people in the vulnerable age group starting from 45 years old.
Health Secretary P Parthiban informed The Arunachal Times that till Sunday the health department had inoculated nearly 2,10,855 people in Arunachal. Among them, 1,62,295 people have been given the first dose and 48,560 people have been given the second dose. The secretary further informed that 1,79,354 persons were net beneficiaries.
Nearly 18,483 healthcare workers (HCW) have been vaccinated with the first dose, and 13,914 HCWs have been given the second dose. While 44,357 frontline workers (FLW) have been inoculated with the first dose of the vaccine, 21,726 FLWs have taken their second dose.
Altogether 99,455 other citizens have been vaccinated with the first dose, and 12,920 citizens have received their second dose, Parthiban said.
Meanwhile, the health secretary has written a letter to the chief executive officer (CEO) of Pune (Maharashtra)-based Serum Institute of India, expressing willingness to procure 14 lakh doses from the Covishield manufacturer in a phased manner within a period of 3-4 months, starting from 1 May.
The health department has placed advance order for Covishield vaccines as it is planning to vaccinate its eligible citizens who have attained 18 years of age.
The department laid out its month-wise requirement of vaccines, stating that 1.5 lakh doses would be required from 1 May, and another 1.5 lakh doses from 22 May, followed by 1 lakh doses in June.
The health secretary informed the CEO of the Serum Institute of India that the Arunachal government “has decided to cover its citizens
below 45 years, starting from 18 years, to get benefits of Covid vaccination in a shortest possible timeframe.”
The state unit of the National Health Mission will be the nodal agency for the procurement on behalf of the government of Arunachal, Parthiban said.
