Delhi starts COVID-19 vaccination training; 3,500 healthcare workers to be trained

Preparations are underway in Delhi to train healthcare workers who will administer vaccine shots to people once it is available. The massive training drive for 3,500 healthcare workers has begun as India starts making logistical preparations for the inoculation drive.

Maulana Azad Medical College (MAMC) has selected three doctors as 'vaccinating officers' who will train more vaccinating officers, who then would pass it on to district-level healthcare workers. Dr Pragya Sharma, head of community medicine at MAMC said that they will receive training and then train vaccinators at the district level in Delhi.

Dr Suneela Garg, public health expert and advisor to the ICMR, has been appointed in the state COVID-19 task force for the Delhi vaccination programme. Garg said that they are educating people and creating a standard module. "We have 609 cold chain points in Delhi where the vaccination is going to take place. For that we have to train a massive amount of manpower, at least 1.5 lakh at the central level and 3,500 vaccinators for the Delhi state and district level," she added.

A team of six vaccinating officers would oversee the entire exercise at every cold chain point that will need at least three rooms. The first-level officer would verify a person, the second-level would see the documents and the third-level would see crowd management. The fourth-level officer would track adverse events for at least 30 minutes. Two vaccinating officers would directly inoculate the person. There would be an overall in-charge who would monitor the entire programme.

Of the 3,500 vaccinating officers, 1,800 would be direct workers in teams of four. Around 600 would be supervisors at the cold chain points while 600 would be medical staff from the private sector, 200 medical staff at cold chain points within the Cantonment zones and 300 medical staff from various dispensaries.

As per the Centre's latest guidelines, state and district programme managers, medical officers, vaccinator officers, information, education and communication officers, cold chain handlers, supervisors, data managers, ASHA workers, and Mahila Arogya Samitis will be engaged in the vaccination process.

Moreover, Delhi will vaccinate 1.8 lakh to 2.25 lakh healthcare workers in the first phase.

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