With just a few days left for the nationwide COVID-19 vaccination campaign, the Health Minister urged all eligible people to get the vaccine to achieve herd immunity against COVID-19. The Health Ministry has identified 1,001 vaccination sites which include over 350 ECCD centres and schools across the country. Except for the identified schools, the remaining schools, institutions and offices will remain open as usual.
The Health Minister said a 30-year-old woman born in the Monkey year will be the first person to receive the jab in line with the Bhutanese astrology. After the woman, Prime Minister Dr Lotay Tshering will receive the vaccine followed by his family members and a few of the cabinet ministers.
Health Minister Dechen Wangmo said every individual getting the jab will be observed for 30 minutes for any side effects.
“People would experience some adverse reactions which are very normal such as soreness, fever, headache, fatigue, muscle pain, nausea, chill, a little bit of cough. All that is very much a part of the inoculation process. But we would encourage people to report this even if it is not of major concern, we would like to document this adverse reaction so that it provides some additional scientific knowledge to the vaccine developers as well. So adverse reactions will of course be reported to the respective doctors,” Lyonpo said.
The ministry will arrange home-based immunisation for people who cannot walk after the seven-day vaccine campaign. Similarly, for the elderly above the age of 70 years will be given the jab in the health facilities. And people residing in cohorts such as monks, students and trainees in colleges and institutes will receive the vaccine after the seven day campaign period.
Lyonpo said people who choose not to get the jab might have to face certain inconveniences.
“So the person who is eligible but has not been vaccinated will be under the ministry of health’s surveillance which means that we would test you on some level of frequencies. If you are required to travel to other districts, we might require you to get tested prior to going to other districts. Plus if you go to hospitals, we will test you. So testing is one of the inconveniences you might have to face. This is again to protect our community from undergoing another outbreak. And then again, not many countries have formalised it but most are still talking about having a requirement of vaccine passport. So which means you have to prove that you have been vaccinated for international travels. So that will again provide you with another inconvenience,” Lyonpo added.
The health minister added spot registration will be made available for those who have missed the vaccine registration during the vaccination day.
Meanwhile, with the arrival of the additional consignment gift of 400,000 doses from India yesterday, the ministry began distributing the vaccines today. Pema Gatshel received more than 16,000 doses while Samdrup Jongkhar received 24,000 doses of the Covishield vaccine today.
Sonam Pem
