Chandigarh admn forms committee to monitor adverse effects of Covid-19 vaccine

The UT administration has formed a panel of doctors to monitor adverse effects, if any, among the beneficiaries of the Covid-19 vaccine.

The panel comprises doctors from the Government Medical College and Hospital, Sector 32, and Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGIMER).

Earlier, the Union health ministry had asked to start making arrangements to deal with any Covid-19 vaccine-related side-effects as one of the measures towards safe vaccine delivery among the masses.

Committee reconstituted to identify adult needs

“Under the universal immunisation programme, a system already exists, but it was targeted for children only. Since this is an adult vaccine, we have reconstituted the committee by involving doctors from cardiology, neurology, medicine and anesthesia departments. Vaccinators have already been trained to identify signs of side-effects and deal with common occurrences,” said Dr Amandeep Kaur Kang, director health services, UT.

Detailing about the process, Dr Kang said , “A 30-minute on-site monitoring of people who will be vaccinated will be mandatory post-vaccination. Besides, we will have a 24×7 Covid vaccine help desk functioning to help the beneficiaries.”

All beneficiaries will be counselled about the adverse effects that may occur after being administered the Covid-19 vaccine. “These are expected to be minor events such as local pain and swelling, and mild to moderate fever, etc. However, the list of expected events could be different based on the safety profile of the Covid-19 vaccine that finally gets approved for use,” the doctor added.

All the adverse effects of the vaccine will be reported through the Co-Win application developed to monitor and manage the Covid-19 vaccination programme.

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