Karnataka may require 1.47 lakh personnel for Covid-19 vaccination drive

Karnataka could require at least 1.47 lakh vaccination staffers to kick-start the ambitious Covid-19 immunisation programme. The state government is casting a wide net to marshal a small army of people to join the 10,008 trained vaccinators that the state already possesses.

For one, Karnataka would alone require over 29,000 doctors or personnel legally authorised to give an injection. This is because of a Covid-19 vaccine operational guideline issued by the Government of India that specifies that each vaccination site must be staffed by a five-member team.

Health and Family Welfare Minister Dr K Sudhakar added, however, that six personnel per site may be required, saying they will be established along lines similar to election booths. "Each vaccination booth will have two vaccinators (ANM, Nurses, Male MPW, pharmacist etc), one assistant for maintaining data, one assistant for logistics and two to three persons (NCC, volunteers) for crowd management. Detailed SOPs are being finalised in this regard," he said.

CORONAVIRUS SPECIAL COVERAGE ONLY ON DH

Personnel have to be found to staff the 29,451 designated vaccination sites in Karnataka. So far, however, the Department of Health and Family Welfare said it has trained only 500 additional staff. "State immunisation staff were trained by the Government of India. We trained 500 district, taluk and medical college officers via Zoom, who in turn have to train block-level officers," said Dr Rajani Nagesh Rao, Director of Immunisation.

Members of the so-called Block Task Forces made up of tahsildars, panchayat officers, rotary members and even representatives of the National Cadet Corps (NCC) have been given the critical task of training Primary Health Clinic personnel in their areas.

The real challenge will be in urban areas, explained the noted epidemiologist Dr Giridhar Babu. "Rural areas already have a robust system where there is one junior health assistant for every 5,000 people. They are already in the programme, vaccinating children every week, giving intramuscular injections and subcutaneous injections and so to give to adults is easier than giving to children," he said.

MR vaccination template

Dr Sudhakar expressed confidence that the state's universal (child) vaccination programmes had given it the requisite experience to tackle the massive programme.

"Based on the state's experience during the combined Measles-Rubella (MR) immunisation campaign in 2017 wherein 1.58 crore children were covered in two months, Karnataka is well-placed to implement the Covid-19 vaccination programme," he said.

However, a health officer involved in immunisation programmes cautioned that the government is hastening matters at the cost of meticulous planning. "Even the introduction of a new vaccine for child immunisation programmes require three to four years planning," the source said.