COVID vaccine drive begins in Mizoram, health worker gets first shot

 A health worker was the first person to get the COVID-19 vaccine in Mizoram on Saturday as the Northeastern state joined the rest of the country in launching the vaccination programme, officials said.

Lalthlamuani, a grade-IV worker at the Aizawl Civil Hospital, was the first person to get the vaccine in the state, they said.

Among the recipients were 10 senior doctors, including Lalhmuchhuaka, the superintendent of the Aizawl Civil Hospital.Total 314 people received the vaccine on the first day though 500 people were supposed to get it, officials said.

The turnout was less as the beneficiaries recieved the SMS alert, informing them about the vaccination programme, late, an official said.

The main programme to launch the vaccination drive was held at the Aizawl Civil Hospital. Health Minister R Lalthangliana and Health Secretary H Lalengmawia were present.

"It was a significant day in the history of not only India but also Mizoram," Lalthangliana said.

Maintaining that the vaccine is medically safe, he urged the beneficiaries to receive complete doses without any apprehension.

The health minister claimed that Mizoram is one of the best performing states not only in India but the entire world in tackling the pandemic.

"Cutting across party lines, organisations, groups and departments, people worked together to fight COVID-19, which made Mizoram the least-affected state in the country with only nine fatalities so far," Lalthangliana said.

He said that there was no such occasion or thing other than COVID-19 that united the people of the state.A total of 18,500 doses of Oxford-AstraZeneca's Covishield vaccine were brought to Aizawl by a air from Pune on Thursday.

Apart from the Aizawl Civil Hospital, the first rollout of the vaccine happened at the Zoram Medical College (ZMC), the Sub-District Hospital at Kulikawn, and Urban Public Health Centre at ITI Veng, all of which are in Aizawl, besides the civil hospital in Lunglei town in the southern part of the state.The vaccination drive will be held in all the districts across the state from next week and about 8,000 healthcare workers are to be vaccinated in the first phase, said Dr Eric Zomawia, the director of the National Health Mission (NHM) in Mizoram.

Date collection for frontline workers such as defence personnel, paramilitary forces and police, among others, is being undertaken by the Home Department, he said.

State immunization officer Dr. Lalzawmi told PTI that no side effect or other untoward incident was reported during the drive.

Mizoram on Saturday reported four new COVID-19 cases, taking the state's tally to 4,314.

There are 80 active cases, while 4,225 people have recovered.

(IMAGE CREDITS: AP)