Centre issues Guidance Note to operationalise COVID vaccination centres at work places
New Delhi: With the extension of COVID-19 vaccination to all citizens aged 45 years or more from 1st April 2021, the Health and Family Welfare Ministry has now written to all States and Union Territories that COVID-19 vaccination sessions may now be organised at workplaces (both public and private) which are having about 100 eligible and willing beneficiaries by tagging these workplaces with an existing COVID Vaccination Center (CVC). Organising vaccination at Work Place will not only be convenient to the staff at Work Places but also help to avoid travel and hence reducing the risk of exposure to COVID-19 virus, the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare stated today.
To support the States in this initiative, guidelines have been prepared and the same have conveyed by the Union Health Secretary to the States and UTs. These guidelines will support the State and District Programme Managers with the requisite information and guide them on organising vaccination sessions at such workplaces (both public & private). Such work place vaccination centres may be launched across States/UTs from April 11, 2021.
States have been further advised to initiate due consultations with private/public sector employers and management to prepare for launch of workplace vaccination.
While COVID 19 vaccination at government work place organised by district health authorities will be free of cost, the vaccination organised by private CVC would be on payment basis and will be at same rate as of vaccination at private health facility. The financial ceiling of the total amount recoverable by private health facility is INR 250/- per person per dose.
The private health facility that will be organising vaccination at the private sector work place will deposit cost of vaccines up front in the bank account designated by the National Health Authority. The hospitals will provide proof of payments to the DIO in-charge of the concerned district. The payment gateway on the NHA portal will be used by the private CVC for this purpose.
The District Task Force (DTF) chaired by district magistrate and Urban Task Force (UTF) chaired by municipal commissioner has been asked to identify such government and private work places after due deliberations with relevant employers and / or head of offices. Work place management will designate one of their senior staff to work as “Nodal Officer” to coordinate with district health authorities/ private COVID Vaccination Centres (CVCs) and support vaccination activities. The nodal officer will oversee and facilitate all aspects of vaccination at Work Place CVC like registration of beneficiaries, availability of physical and IT infrastructure and oversight to vaccination etc.
Beneficiaries must be registered in Co-WIN portal prior to vaccination. CVC nodal officer will ensure registration of all targeted beneficiaries and facility of on-the spot registration will also be available but only to employees of the work place.
Once identified, all such Work Place vaccination centres will be registered in the CoWIN portal as government or private COVID-19 Vaccination Centre (CVC) at work place. DTF / UTF will ensure verification of availability of three rooms as waiting, vaccination and observation rooms at work place CVC . These rooms should be part of the permanent structure of the work place or proper and stable structure like hangars should be erected. Temporary shamiyana / tent like structure should not be used. Once verified, DIO will ensure registration of Work Place CVC in Co-WIN portal
Every CVC in government Work Place will be tagged to an existing and nearest CVC in the government medical facility while every CVC in private work place will be tagged to an existing and nearest CVC in the private medical facility. The designated government and private CVC to whom the work place CVC has been tagged will be responsible for deployment of vaccination team at Work Place CVCs. In charge of the designated government and private CVC to whom the work place CVC has been tagged will plan session, provide vaccine at the work place CVC, and ensure reporting in Co-WIN from these Work Place CVCs. For optimal utilisation of resources, vaccination session will be planned at work place CVC once at least 50 beneficiaries get registered for vaccination.
The schedule of vaccination session can be made up to 15 days in advance and intimated to the Work Places so that maximum attendance is ensured on the day of vaccination. In most of the work places vaccination schedule may, however, be completed in less than 15 days.
All government and private CVCs are already linked to some cold chain point for receiving vaccine. These CVCs will continue to use same mechanism to receive vaccine needed for vaccination at tagged work place CVC. District health authorities will normally deploy the vaccination team at government work places. Private CVC will deploy the vaccination team at private work places.
One fully trained vaccination team will be assigned to vaccinate 100 beneficiaries at work place CVC. Each team will consist of:
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- Team leader (necessarily a doctor),
- Vaccinator (authorized to give injections),
- Vaccination Officer-1 to work as verifier to work on CoWIN and
- Vaccination officers-2 & 3 for crowd management and AEFI observation
The management of Work Place will be responsible for arranging adequate rooms / space for vaccination (waiting room, vaccination room and observation room)
All Work Place CVC will have a medical officer as supervisor / team leader.
– global bihari bureau
