Covid Vaccination : Govt to allay apprehensions of pvt healthcare workers

Adarsh Nagar : The Telangana government is seriously contemplating a counselling programme for the healthcare workers who had registered themselves for the Covid vaccine, but later pulled out due to unfounded fears, according to Health Minister Eatala Rajender.

Addressing a special virtual talk on Covid-19 vaccine on Sunday organised by Telangana State Federation of Chambers of Commerce & Trade (TSFCCT), Rajendar admitted that some people were afraid of taking vaccine jabs due to fear-mongering fuelled by unreliable and unscientific news and rumours. Telangana has vaccinated 1,68,589 healthcare workers till now. According to health officials, 57 per cent of the targetted beneficiaries have taken the vaccine.

The Telangana Health Minister called upon the medical fraternity to dispel the fears. "It is the medical fraternity who can clear the air. They must use social media and mass media to spread awareness about the efficacy of the vaccine," he added. "To dispel these alleged fears, I volunteered to take the vaccine to give confidence. Today 25 to 30 per cent health workers still have not taken the vaccine," he added.

Rajendar said Covid-19 mRNA vaccines have been rigorously tested for safety before being authorized for use.

"mRNA technology is new, but not unknown. As far as what I gathered from the experts is that mRNA from the vaccine never enters the nucleus of the cell and does not affect or interact with a person's DNA. It may not be a 100 per cent effective vaccine. But it serves the purpose and gives confidence."

"It is the Union government which is in full control of the matter. We requested recently to the Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan to allow us to get more doses as the vaccine is developed in Hyderabad so that it can be given to more people.

We are looking for permission from the Union Health Ministry," said the Minister.

He revealed that the State has received eight lakh doses of the Covid vaccine. TSFCCT is a professional body of 11 lakh traders in Telangana. TSFCCT has been organising a series of programmes with experts, ministers on subjects of vital importance to the society at large.

TSFCCT office-bearers Ammanabolu Prakash, C. Nand Kumar, Manepalli Murali Krishna, Venu Vinod, T.R Venkatesh, V Varakumar Gupta, Meela Jayadev, K Prakash Murthy, G Narender Kumar, A Nitin Parikh, Soma Dayanand, among others participated in the event.

Vaccinated anganwadi teacher dies at NIMS

Susheela (55), an anganwadi teacher in Mancherial district, who was recently administered COVID-19 vaccine, passed away, while undergoing treatment in Nizam's Institute of Medical Sciences (NIMS) in Hyderabad on Saturday. Her death is not related to the vaccination, said, a senior official from health department. Susheela was inoculated on January 19. "She was a chronic patient of high blood pressure and also had lung ailment. We believe her death is not due to the vaccination," said, Mancherial District Medical and Health Officer (DMHO) Dr M Neeraja. According to Director of Public Health Dr G Srinivas Rao, she was admitted to Medilife Hospital at Mancherial. She was shifted to Nizam's Institute of Medical Sciences (NIMS) Hyderabad on January 30, where she succumbed at about 11 pm.

"The cause of death is clearly indicative of underlying morbidities and not due to Covid vaccination. Death occurred due to cardio-respiratory arrest triggered by multiple morbidities such as kyphoscoliosis with restricted lung disease, respiratory infection with type 2 respiratory failure, accelerated hypertension with left ventricular failure," Rao said.

Since the vaccination began on January 16, health officials said, the three such deaths were not related to vaccine. Interestingly, all the three had taken the vaccine on the same day but at different places in the state.

In the first incident, a 42-year-old male healthcare worker who had taken the shot on January 19 died the next day. He was given the vaccine at Kuntala Primary Health Centre in Nirmal district. He developed chest pain and was brought dead to District Hospital at Nirmal in the early hours of January 20.

In the second case, a 45- year old female healthcare worker vaccinated on January 19 at a primary health centre in Warangal Urban district died on January 24. Telangana has so far vaccinated 1,68,589 healthcare workers. According to health officials, 57 per cent of the targeted beneficiaries have been administered the vaccine.

Health services still not accessible to the poor

At another event, while inaugurating Telangana chapter of National Integrated Medical Association, Rajender expressed concern that despite development through science and technology the poor could not afford increasing costs of health services and are deprived of better health care services. The medical fraternity should think of giving low cost health services to the poor, he advised. At the programme of pulse polio, the health minister said that the journalists would get Corona vaccine. "We have urged the centre to make necessary arrangements," he said.

1,986 private healthcare personnel inoculated

A total of 1,986 private healthcare personnel were administered the COVID-19 vaccine on Saturday while the total number of personnel planned to be inoculated on the same day was 4,021, Telangana health officials said. The cumulative number of beneficiaries that include healthcare workers in government and private sectors vaccinated was 1,68,589. The total percentage of government and private healthcare workers who received the vaccine till Saturday was 57 per cent.

No serious case of AEFI (adverse events following immunisation) was reported and four persons who reported minor AEFI are stable. The COVID-19 vaccination for private healthcare workers would continue on February 3, 4 and 5 as Pulse Polio Immunisation would be taken up till February 2. The COVID-19 vaccination programme has not been conducted on a daily basis since the drive began January 16.