COVID-19 vaccine injection begins in Chin State

(COVID-19 vaccination being observed by the chief minister and social minister of Chin State government. Photo: IPRD Hakha)

29 January 2021 – An injection of Covishield, a vaccine against COVID-19, has started in Chin State since 27 January, according to the Chin State Health Department.

The department said that health personnel, who are on the COVID-19 front-line, were first vaccinated and the State government would be the second, which would be followed by people with high risks.

As of today, the vaccination had begun across Chin State, apart from Paletwa Township, the region affected by the long-drawn armed conflict between Tatmadaw and the Arakan Army.

“We are lucky that we received the doses via Kalay airport. There are over 500 health workers and we are not sure how many days it will take. After this, the government staff will take the injection,” Dr. Dawt Hlei Zing, of the Chin State Health Department, told The Hakha Times yesterday.

She mentioned that the roll-out of Covishield for the general public would much depend on the availability of the vaccine doses and the priority lists based on the data collected by the General Administration Department.

GAD conducted a house-to-house data collection of families in each township until earlier this week.

Some families said that they hadn’t been reached out by the data collectors and wondered if they would be included in the list while others indicated doubts over the effectiveness and worries over the possible side effects of the doses.

Given as a gift by India that manufactured the products, the 1.5million vaccine doses arrived in Myanmar last Friday.

Chin State still sees a continuation of COVID-19 positive cases across the region, sharing international borders with India and Bangladesh.#