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Phase II of rollout more streamlined, say officials
Systems fell into place even though Friday was a poya and a public holiday, as 500,000 more doses of AstraZeneca’s COVISHIELD vaccine arrived from India on Thursday, with a mass rollout being launched on Friday itself in the high-risk districts of Colombo and Gampaha.
The furore over the priority list which engulfed the first public rollout (Phase I) with part of the 500,000 doses donated by India settled, as a decision had been made by the Health Ministry to vaccinate people over 30 including those over 60 years of age.
Orderly scene: More than 800 people were vaccinated on Saturday at the MOH office Piliyandala, Bokundera. Pic by Indika Handuwala
The Colombo district has around 1.1 million people who fall into the over 30 group and includes about 360,000 who are over 60. This is excluding the Colombo Municipal Council (CMC) area. The Gampaha district has around 1.5 million above 30 years of age including around 450,000 who are over 60.
It is learnt that in the Colombo district of the two GN divisions where the rollout began on Friday in Piliyandala and Dehiwela, 26% and 16% had been covered respectively in a single day.
With regard to the Colombo and Gampaha districts, sources said that the system has been streamlined. Mobile units with hailers would go down every road in the particular GN division which is supposed to get the vaccine. Which area would be vaccinated first would depend on the infection risk level – those areas having a high risk getting the vaccine first followed by others with a lesser risk.
“The health personnel have got the support of all others such as Divisional Secretariat staff including the GNs, police personnel, development officers and more,” a source said, explaining that even at the centres where the vaccinations are being done the two groups (those between 30 and 59 and those over 60) would be vaccinated at different times to prevent lengthy waiting times.
The source stressed that they hope to vaccinate a person and send him/her home within one hour which would be inclusive of the 20 minutes they would have to stay after the jab to see whether there is any reaction.
Earlier, in the Gampaha district, under Phase I of the community vaccination programme which was executed on February 17, jabs had been given first in 15 GN divisions (based on risk and population density), followed by another 51 GN divisions, totalling 66 GN divisions. The vaccinated number under this phase was around 70,000 people, it is learnt and included about 4,000 police personnel and another 3,000 from the Peliyagoda and Manning markets.
Expectations were high among the people, with officials giving strong assurances that a systematic vaccination rollout would take place with protocols set by the Health Ministry being strictly adhered to.