Thanks to Oxford-AstraZeneca, SII, PM Modi, CM Jagan, Puttaparthi MLA, municipal health staff and police for me (and others) receiving free 1st dose COVID vaccine today in an orderly, socially distanced way

Last updated on 1st June 2021

Today I got my 1st dose COVID vaccination (Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine branded as COVISHIELD) at Primary Health Centre (PHC), Yenumulapalli, Puttaparthi. Please see below pic (some sensitive data is blanked).

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The vaccination was done in an orderly way with good organization and good social distancing. PHC was not crowded today. I did not have to wait long. I think the process of registration followed by vaccination took around half an hour to an hour.

Dr. Nagaraju Naik, who I believe is the key medical officer for the PHC and for Puttaparthi mandal, was very helpful in resolving a small issue I had during registration where some code was needed from a prior registration I had made. This was due to me having tried to schedule a vaccination appointment in end April using CoWIN web portal, https://www.cowin.gov.in/home . That appointment got made but such appointments were not effective in Puttaparthi.

Dr. Naik resolved it by getting me to login on CoWIN website on my phone. On successful login, the code wanted by the person who was doing the registration was shown on the phone Internet browser page. That resolved the issue and the process could move forward.

Note that I am slow with mobile apps as I am an oldie and retired software techie. I am very comfy on PC desktop which is where I do most of my work. Dr. Nagaraju Naik seemed to be very well versed with using apps on mobile.

Dr. Naik was also overseeing the whole vaccination work and was helping out people who had queries.

The lady health worker, a nurse I guess, who injected me with the vaccine also came across as very competent.

I thank Dr. Nagaraju Naik and other staff at the PHC for the service they are rendering to the people in Puttaparthi, including me, in these difficult COVID pandemic times, and I also thank them for having given me and others the 1st dose COVID vaccine with good social distancing being followed, and without me and others having to wait for long.

While I was waiting at PHC for a friend to arrive, I saw the DSP (Deputy Superintendent of Police) of Puttaparthi arrive and visit the PHC. A policeman seemed to be stationed there to ensure orderly behaviour from the public. This policeman received the DSP and interacted with him. The DSP left after a little while. I think the police have ensured good order in the PHC and I thank Puttaparthi DSP and Puttaparthi police in general for this service they are doing, as frontline workers fighting the COVID pandemic.

My friend pointed me to another area of the PHC where some people had gathered (with some distancing between them). He said that that's where the COVID testing (test swab collection) was being done. I think these test swabs are then sent to Anantapur RT-PCR lab. for testing.

The PHC has lot of open space and so has good ventilation which I think is very good for this COVID vaccination and testing (test swab collection) related work that they do.

I have also noted in Facebook posts, the good and courageous work done by the MLA (Member of Legislative Assembly) for Puttaparthi assembly constituency, Shri D. Sreedhar Reddy garu, by personally overseeing the work done in Puttaparthi area to fight COVID, including PHC, municipality, COVID care center and COVID treatment center in Puttaparthi area. I thank MLA D. Sreedhar Reddy garu for this service he has provided to the people of Puttaparthi mandal (including me).

I also thank the municipal staff, the COVID care center staff and the COVID treatment centre (run by Sri Sathya Sai Central Trust) staff as well as the Sri Sathya Sai Central Trust, for the service they are providing to the people of Puttaparthi mandal in this fight against COVID pandemic.

Note that in Puttaparthi town and surrounding villages, COVID vaccination is available only through the municipal health authorities (government), as far as I know. Private medical clinic/hospital COVID vaccination (for a charge) is NOT available in Puttaparthi mandal. The nearest town/city where private clinic/hospital COVID vaccination is available is Dharmavaram which is around 45 minutes travel from Puttaparthi town by private vehicle and around 1 hour by public bus. Of course, Anantapur town/city which is the district headquarters, has private clinic/hospital COVID vaccination but that, I believe, is around 2 hours travel from Puttaparthi town by private vehicle and around 2 hours 30 minutes by public bus. In this COVID 2nd wave and associated lockdown period, I was reluctant to travel to Dharmavaram or Anantapur for COVID vaccination at a private clinic/hospital as I really don't know much about these private clinics/hospitals and have no friends or acquaintances there.

Now for some more general thoughts and background.

This horrible COVID pandemic has been a major area of concern/interest for me right from end 2019. Initially as reports, including pics and videos on social media, came out of Wuhan, China, I was horrified to see what damage, in our early 21st century times, a contagious and dangerous virus could do to people and the health systems of a modern city, and how a brutal lockdown was the way Wuhan emerged out of that crisis. Initially I just could not believe what was happening in Wuhan but later was able to come to some terms with that new reality. In previous epidemics like SARS and MERS, I was too busy doing other work and was not writing on such topics on social media. Further, as those epidemics did not impact India much, I did not pay much attention to them. This time around, I followed the COVID pandemic quite closely right from the time reports about it started appearing in international media.

A lot has happened since December 2019 with respect to COVID. Outside of China, the first major impact was that some areas of Italy & Spain got very badly hit. Then New York City got traumatized which was so hard for me to come to terms with, and after which the COVID virus became a very dangerous thing for me and I felt that any city in the world, no matter how prosperous and advanced, could get traumatized by it. Mumbai, my former home city, and Delhi got hit badly, especially in the horrific 2nd wave in India. Now some parts of India seem to have come out of the 2nd wave, but some parts are still not out of it, including Anantapur district of Andhra Pradesh which is where Puttaparthi lies. I should also say that latest reports indicate that Andhra Pradesh seems to be slowly emerging out of this horrific 2nd wave: Covid impact declining in Andhra Pradesh: Govt https://www.newindianexpress.com/states/andhra-pradesh/2021/may/30/covid-impact-declining-in-andhra-pradesh-govt-2309407.html 30th May 2021

That health care workers (doctors, nurses and others) who were working on COVID cases, were being put at major risk, was another reality that I struggled to come to terms with. I gave special attention to pleas made by these health care workers to the public they serve, that the public should follow COVID pandemic guidelines of the government, and not be negligent. I mean, if somebody caught COVID through negligence then that person was not only endangering himself/herself, but was unfairly putting at risk the health care and other frontline workers who have to treat him/her or interact with him/her! If after having taken due precautions, a person still gets COVID then it is a different matter.

So I resolved that I will do all that I reasonably can to follow govt. of India guidelines on COVID pandemic and not be negligent about them. As a spiritual aspirant, the last thing I want to be, is a health-risk for others. So I felt it my spiritual duty to do all that I reasonably could to protect myself from catching COVID and becoming a health-risk and burden to others. 

I take this opportunity to express my deep gratitude to health care workers and other frontline workers of India, as well as their families, who are fighting this horrible COVID pandemic, with some of them having lost their lives, and some having had to go through severe illness. May God shower His Grace on all of these health care workers and front line workers of India, and their families, who are fighting against COVID.

Moving to the topic of vaccines, the pace with which vaccines were created for this virus (SARS-CoV-2) has been unprecedented. I think it is a great triumph of science and related vaccine manufacturing industry that the genetic sequence of the virus got published very quickly - on 11th January 2020, and the steps for vaccine creation, trials and release have got done so fast, with both UK and USA releasing COVID vaccines to the public under emergency authorization in December of 2020, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/COVID-19_vaccine . I think kudos must also be given to the leadership of former President Trump of USA and Prime Minister Boris Johnson of UK, for enabling the scientists and vaccine manufacturers to deliver the vaccines so quickly in USA and UK.

As a cheap and effective cure for COVID is still not available, vaccines have become one of the main weapons with which to fight and overcome this horrific COVID pandemic.

The Oxford-AstraZeneca COVID vaccine got approved in UK on 30th Dec. 2020 "and the first vaccination outside of a trial was administered on 4 January 2021", https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oxford%E2%80%93AstraZeneca_COVID-19_vaccine , https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-55525542 . Note that Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine has been developed by Oxford University (of UK) and British-Swedish company AstraZeneca.

The Serum Institute of India (SII), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serum_Institute_of_India , is a private biotech and biopharma company that is the world's largest manufacturer of vaccines. SII seems to have an agreement with Oxford-AstraZeneca to manufacture Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine and sell it in India (and perhaps other countries) under brand name COVISHIELD.

India formally approved COVISHIELD (and another vaccine named Covaxin from Bharat Biotech) under emergency authorization, for usage as vaccine outside of trials, on 3rd January 2021.

Initially the vaccines were given to health care workers and other frontline workers. Later from 1st March 2021, it got expanded to cover those above 60 years, and those with co-morbidities even if below 60 years, from the general public.

Subsequently, from 1st April 2021, those above 45 years of age were eligible for vaccination, which is my age group.

I first tried to get my 1st COVID vaccine shot in end April and early May. But at that time in Puttaparthi there was a big shortage of vaccines and large number of people were wanting to be vaccinated. Further, the Andhra Pradesh government decided that those who are eligible for 2nd dose of the vaccine should be given the vaccine first and that 1st dose vaccine persons will have to wait till that is over. So my quest to get 1st dose vaccine then did not succeed.

I also resolved that if a vaccination centre is too crowded without social distancing being followed, then I will avoid trying to get vaccinated then at that centre.

I think it is in the past few days that 1st dose vaccination was re-started in Puttaparthi. Meanwhile the central government opened up vaccination to those of 18 years and above though I don't know what exactly are the norms the Andhra Pradesh government is following now.

I am told that 1st dose vaccine is also being given in various sachivalayams (municipal ward level offices) in Puttaparthi town.

Thanks to the Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Shri Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy garu, Puttaparthi assembly constituency MLA (Member of Legislative Assembly) Shri D. Sreedhar Reddy garu, and government of Andhra Pradesh for such COVID vaccinations in Puttaparthi. I think the Andhra Pradesh government is buying the vaccines from SII and supplying it to various health centres in Andhra Pradesh to vaccinate Andhra Pradesh citizens free of charge. Perhaps some of the vaccines are also delivered from central government to Andhra Pradesh government. Thanks also to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modiji and his union government as well as the vaccine manufacturer in India, Serum Institute of India (SII) who provide the main infrastructure  and policy, and do the manufacturing, respectively.

As Oxford University and AstraZeneca developed the Oxford-AstraZeneca/COVISHIELD vaccine, many thanks to them too.

The first outside-of-trials Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine was administered in UK on January 4th 2021. In a rural town in Andhra Pradesh, I have got the same vaccine (1st dose) supplied and injected into my arm, free of charge, by govt. of Andhra Pradesh on 31st May 2021 which makes it a less than 5 month gap period from the first outside-trial UK vaccination. I find that extraordinarily fast. Note that many others (60 and above or those with co-morbidities) in Puttaparthi from the general public (not health care worker or other frontline worker) got the same vaccine, 1st dose, sometime in March itself, and so a gap of only around 2 months from 1st UK outside-trials vaccination.

I think such speedy and effective international collaboration between UK, Sweden and India in combating COVID through vaccination, along with other such international collaboration vaccination work (e.g. Russia's Sputnik vaccine) as well as vaccines developed by an Indian company (Covaxin by Bharat Biotech), shows that it is just a matter of time - perhaps three to six months more - before this horrible COVID pandemic in India is brought under some control or tamed. Yes, it may take longer for it to be reduced to such an extent that pre-COVID-pandemic life may resume. But the horror of the 2nd wave of COVID pandemic that India went through and to a lesser extent is still going through in some parts of the country, may, hopefully, be a thing of the past which does not repeat in future.