New Delhi: More than 50 lakh healthcare and frontline workers have been vaccinated against coronavirus in 21 days in India which is the fastest rate in the world, Minister of State for Health Ashwini Choubey told the Rajya Sabha on Tuesday.
Responding to a question on vaccine hesitancy, he said at the start of COVID-19 vaccination drive, fewer than planned beneficiaries attended the vaccination sessions due to transient technical issues in CoWIN portal, vaccine hesitancy, among others, which have progressively been addressed.
A total of 93.6 lakh healthcare and 77.9 lakh frontline workers had been registered for the vaccination till January 31, the minister said in a written reply.
He said 37.58 lakh workers were vaccinated till January 31.
“Initially the coverage was low however, the rate of vaccination coverage has subsequently increased,” Choubey said.
Asked if the healthcare and frontline workers are not confident of the vaccine available for them, the MoS said, “This is not a fact. More than 50 lakh healthcare and frontline workers have been vaccinated in 21 days in India which is the fastest rate in the world.”
A communication campaign is being carried out to raise awareness about COVID-19 vaccines and address the misinformation regarding the vaccination process, he said.
The communication strategy aims to disseminate factual information about the vaccine and the vaccination process. This is being done through multimedia platforms and through the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW) website.
The rollout of COVID-19 vaccination drive had begun from January 16.
During the initial phases, the vaccine is being provided to the priority groups of healthcare and frontline workers for free by the central government.
Till January 26, a total of 200 lakh doses of ‘Covishield’ and 28.03 lakh doses of ‘Covaxin’ have been supplied, Choubey said in a separate reply.
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Covid seropositivity among healthcare workers over 25%
The overall COVID-19 seropositivity among healthcare workers is assessed to be 25.7 per cent as per the third seroprevalence study, Choubey told Rajya Sabha.
Sero survey or Seroprevalence studies are based on analysis of antibodies collected through blood sample collection.
Responding to a question on how many healthcare workers have contracted COVID-19 virus till date, Choubey said health being a state subject, centralised data on number of healthcare workers who have contracted COVID-19 virus till date is not maintained by the Ministry of Health.
“However, the Indian Council of Medical Research is undertaking periodic sero-surveillance to monitor the trend of COVID-19 infection. As per the third seroprevalence study (December 2020 to January 2021) results the overall COVID-19 seropositivity among healthcare workers is assessed to be 25.7 per cent,” he said in a written reply.
Seroprevalence is highest among doctors and nurses (26.6 per cent), followed by para-medical staff (25.4 per cent), field staff (25.3 per cent) and administrative staff (24.9 per cent), Choubey said in a written reply.
These seroprevalence rates have been found to be a little higher than that in general population which has been estimated as 21.5 per cent, he said.
In response to another question, Choubey said, health being a state subject, the Ministry of Health does not maintain data relating to the number of healthcare workers who lost their lives due to COVID-19, state-wise, job-wise and public-private hospital-wise.
Life insurance benefits are being provided under ‘Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Package (PMGKP): Insurance Scheme for Health Workers Fighting COVID-19’ that offers a comprehensive personal accident cover of Rs. 50 lakh to around 22.12 lakh healthcare providers, including community health workers and private health workers drafted by the Government for COVID- 19 related responsibilities, who may have to be in direct contact and care of COVID-19 patients and who may be at risk of being impacted by this.
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