This is a list of best practices to be followed by vaccination centres for proper flow of vaccine candidates, based on operational guidelines issued by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India.
Following these guidelines will make it easy and fast for people and the vaccine staff to go through the process of Covid-19 vaccination. Learn about vaccine team composition, appointment setting, safety precautions, safe distancing in your Covid vaccine queue, and dealing with adverse events following immunization (AEFI).
1. Vaccination session size and required team members.
Vaccination is required to be done in batches called sessions, located at government hospitals above PHCs, or at private facilities designated as vaccine centres.
Optimal session size recommended: 100
Required team members: Vaccinator Officer (doctors, nurses, medical staff, health inspectors and others trained to administer injections.); Vaccinator Officer 1 (police, NSS, civil defense, home guard, NCC, and others authorised to regulate entry and verify registration of session attendees.); Vaccinator Officer 2 (for verification of identity documents); Vaccinator Officers 3 and 4 (support staff for crowd and queue management, provide information, and ensure 30 minutes, observation time after vaccination.)
2. Safety precautions to be taken.
Apart from the existing safety and safe distancing protocols for Covid-19 already implemented, the vaccine programme requires additional safety precautions such as safe injection and waste disposal mechanisms.
Another important aspect is the monitoring and reporting of adverse events following immunization (AEFI) incidents, which is essential given the massive nature of the immunization drive. Proper training for logistics and cold chain management of vaccines is required to prevent mishaps, and to ensure proper storage and accounting of available vaccine supplies.
3. Implementation of vaccine queue management system.
Every registered person receives a scheduled appointment time slot and location, ideally for the first only, arrives just in time during that timeslot, and is immediately vaccinated without a long wait. The same process can be followed for the second dose.
In case a crowd still forms because of delays in the process, there must be Vaccinator Officers assigned and waiting on site to handle crowds and queue management.
5. Safe distancing in vaccine queues.
Also, a digital queue system can implement safe distancing by using a QR code scanning mechanism to provide an SMS token number with updates on a person’s status in the Covid vaccine queue.
They can leave the vaccination centre, and come back only when they get a message calling them back just in time for getting the vaccine.
6. Eligibility and registration for vaccination
The Ministry of Health is informing eligible candidates on their registered mobile numbers about their scheduled date, time and location for getting their vaccine. It is required for the candidates to bring a photo ID (driving license, passport, Voter ID, bank passbook, health insurance smart card, etc.) at the time of registration. The ID document will be verified by the designated Vaccinator Officer 1.
7. Co-WIN app for vaccinators.
Co-WIN (Winning over Covid-19) is the Government of India app for Vaccinators providing Covid-19 vaccines.
The app is available on Play Store (Android phones) and App Store (iOS phones).
If you don’t want to use the app, then you can do it on your computer, through the Co-WIN portal (www.cowin.gov.in)
You can also download the Arogya Setu app (if you don’t have it) and click on the CoWIN tab to register for vaccination.
March 4th, 2021 ·