KEY STORY
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Vaccination booths — like polling stations during elections — will be set up for conducting the drive against Covid and people must produce a government-recognized identity proof before getting the shot.
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WHO-India’s sub-regional team leader (Karnataka) Dr Lokesh Alahari said Covid Vaccine Intelligence Network (CoWIN) software, developed by IIT-Delhi, will be used for monitoring vaccine delivery to prioritized sections of the population.
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He was speaking at a webinar on ‘Covid-19 Vaccine Safety and Efficacy’ on Tuesday.
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Every person getting shots will be enrolled in government data and tracked for adverse effects, if any, Alahari said.
‘Duration of protection by vaccine unknown’
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The software tracks the temperature at which the vaccine is stored at primary health centres. The management and reporting of the adverse events following immunisation are “equally important”, said Dr Alahari.
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He said a person undergoing Covid vaccination will get a certificate, and reminders about the next schedule.
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Dr Shashibhushan BL, professor and head, department of pulmonary medicine, Bangalore Medical College and Research Institute, said it was important for vaccine developers to present all safety data. “It is likely that vaccination will be associated with mild adverse events like soreness at the injection site, fever, fatigue, and myalgia (body pain). More serious reactions, such as otherwise-unexplained neurological or inflammatory processes, would raise concerns,” he said.
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Experts said no vaccine is 100% effective. “A vaccine that protects one from clinical illness may not prevent its transmission to others. In Covid, duration of naturally occurring immunity to infection is unknown; it may wane with time. Hence, the likely duration of protection by the new Covid vaccine is unknown,” said Dr Shashibhushan.