Surveillance Medical Office Dr Valema Deogam was among the first 10 people in the Daltonganj district in Jharkhand to get a COVID-19 shot on the inaugural day of the vaccine campaign on January 16.
Dr Deogam recalls her mixed feelings of apprehension and elation on the day she, along with several thousand of health workers, played a vital role in the world’s largest vaccination drive to end the COVID-19 pandemic.
Here is what she has to say.
“This day will always be special. I received COVID-19 vaccine intramuscularly in my left arm at around 11:20 on January 16. The session site was in the old OPD building of Sadar Hospital, now renamed as Medininagar Medical College and Hospital, in Daltonganj in district Palamu.
The preparations for the vaccination drive began early, with Field Monitors Rampravesh Gupta and Sachidanand supporting the district team to conduct checks to ensure everything is in order. Thermal scanner, check; sanitizers, check; copy of the microplan, check; adrenaline kit, check; 1 ml syringe, check... They went about their business methodically to assure that everything was in place.
Next was an impromptu dry-run for vaccination officers to guide them through their role the final time and to motivate them for the task ahead. Don’t worry, everything is fine, today is the first day of this massive campaign, you are the best, you are the part of best team in the world,” they were repeatedly told to build morale.
The atmosphere became so charged that I found myself chanting, ‘I am ready to be part of this team. This is whole new era of vaccination campaigns. The vaccine is safe. I trust the intention behind the introduction of vaccine. I have trust in the success of vaccine campaign. I trust the happy faces of people receiving vaccination. I am observing the COVID-19 cases are on the decline. I am grateful that a vaccine with positive outcome is available’.
Of course, I experienced some apprehensions. Would I be able to carry on my normal activities, including office work, following vaccination? Would I have side effects, such as pain in arm or fever or any other adverse effects?
Again, I told myself, ‘India is the world’s single largest producer of vaccines and has a track record of safety. We have eradicated polio a decade ago. We can do it.’
It was 8:30 by then, and people had begun arranging chairs outside the session site, plugging in equipment for webcasting, and arranging masks for the beneficiaries.
It was still cold and foggy when beneficiaries began arriving for vaccination. My mobile phone display showed the temperature was 5⁰ C.
The media arrived at 9:30 and began interviewing Civil Surgeon Dr J F Kennedy, DRCHO Dr Anil Kumar and sanitation worker Nageshwar Dubey, who was to be the first person to be vaccinated in the district.
At 11:00, Dubey got his vaccine shot from auxiliary nurse midwife (ANM) Mridula Kumari amid loud congratulations (Badhai Ho!). The next to get vaccinated were Civil Surgeon Dr JF Kennedy, DRCHO Dr Anil Kumar, Pediatricians Dr Gaurav Vishal and Dr Anil Shrivastav, Surgeon Dr Sushil Pandey, District Epidemiologist Anup Singh, and I.
By 11:30, Dubey was free to interact with the media while the rest of us waited in the observation room. Vaccination Officer 4 Pratibha Tirkey tracked the post-vaccination time for each person in her checklist and asked each one of us if we were experiencing any discomfort.
At noon, I left to facilitate a district adverse-effects following vaccination meeting at the adjoining district of Garhwa. Except for mild soreness in the injection site, I felt fine and realized that my fear of getting vaccinated was misplaced. As I left, I saw people waiting patiently to be vaccinated. I wished them all the best and told them I had been vaccinated and felt fine.
At 13:00, I visited Sadar Hospital Garhwa to observe the sessions-site activities. I met Civil Surgeon Garhwa Dr NK Rajak, who told me it was his birthday and he was retiring later this month. This vaccination drive is a wonderful gift from the government, he laughed, even as he kept a close watch on vaccination coverage. Fifty people had been vaccinated by early afternoon and no adverse events had been being reported.
At 15:00, we were invited to a surprise birthday party for Dr Rajak. We celebrated his birthday and the launch of COVID-19 vaccination drive.
By 17:00, 90 vaccinations had been done out of target of 100 persons at Medininagar Medical College and Hospital site, of which 87 were registered in the Co-Win portal and three were recorded offline.
At the end of day, I felt tired but overwhelmed with happiness. The reason for my elation was obvious. It was a job well done.”