Chandigarh: Phase 3 of Covid vaccination from March 1, sites for receiving jab to include community centres

As many as 8,408 frontline workers have been inoculated so far in the UT, the target being 23,584, which is an achievement rate of 36.65 per cent.

While government hospitals of Chandigarh wait for the final directives by the Health Ministry on the third phase of the vaccine, details on the number of private hospitals which will administer the vaccine and also how many people will be targeted in the third phase, according to Dr V K Nagpal, Medical Superintendent, Joint Director, Health, GMSH-16, are being worked out. Apart from GMSH-16, GMCH-32, they strive to expand the vaccination sites to community centres, as well as health and wellness centres.

“The effort will be to reach people at community level and enable them to access vaccination sites closer to their homes. But we will get final directives in a day, and then we will start finalising sites, though the supply of vaccines will be from GMSH-16 and so far, be provided free of cost to people in government facilities.

Also, hospitals under Ayushman Bharat may also be chosen for the third phase of the vaccination drive,” said Dr Nagpal, adding that people will have to self-register on the CoWin 2.0 app.

At PGIMER, Professor Jagat Ram, director of the institute, is upbeat about the third phase of the vaccination drive, as he says PGIMER has a large number of people other than healthcare workers, like the secretarial, clerical, security staff etc with some above 60 and also those with comorbidities and above 45 years of age.

Dependent family members of healthcare workers of PGI, former PGI employees could also be on the list for the third phase.

“Right now we are waiting for the final directives on how to proceed with the third phase, but we have all facilities in place for the vaccination and trained staff to handle it effectively. Right now we have two sites working for the vaccination, though we have made four centres, and we can extend these to five, with the vaccines also given according to the demand. We hope that a large number of people will opt for the vaccine and prevent the spread of infection,” Professor Ram said.