Salini Mondal, 27, a lecturer at the Peerless Institute of Nursing and a nurse at the Peerless Hospital, has been administering vaccines for three years. She spoke to The Telegraph about how she felt.

Administering the Covishield vaccine is similar to administering a TT (Tetanus toxoid) vaccine. I did not face any difficulty on Saturday. The route is the same for administering the vaccines. Both are intramuscular injections, administered in the upper arm, the portion of the arm above one’s elbow. The Covishield vaccine has to be given in the deltoid muscle.

The other thing to remember is that the vaccinator has to maintain a 90-degree angle between the recipient’s arm and the syringe while administering the vaccine.

I used 0.5ml syringes and 24 gauge needles.

Most of the 30 healthcare workers who received the Covishield vaccine from me on Saturday seemed very excited. Some of them had doubts, but I counselled them before pushing the injection. I told them it was safe to take the vaccine, that it may save one from getting Covid. Some of the recipients who are support staff like security personnel or housekeeping staff seemed nervous. But they all agreed to take the vaccine once they were counselled.

There were four of us administering the vaccine in rotation. Each of the vials had 5ml volume of the vaccine. Ten people could be vaccinated from one vial. Each person was administered 0.5ml of the vaccine. The Covishield vaccine cannot be used after four hours of opening the vial. I administered vaccine to 30 people, all of them my colleagues at Peerless Hospital. I started around 11.20am and continued till around 6pm, with several breaks. We were a team of four, administering the vaccine to a total of 101 recipients.

Personally, I never felt any anxiety. I am a pediatric vaccinator and have pushed similar type of injections to many children. Since the route of administering is known to me, I did not feel nervous.

I was very excited since yesterday, being among those trained by the health department to run the vaccination site at our hospital. I was excited thinking that I will be among the first few across the country who will be administering the vaccine to people. This vaccine can save so many lives. It can save so many people in the pandemic.

I read up the guidelines issued by the Union health ministry for the vaccination.

Before administering the vaccine, I asked each of the recipients if they had allergic reactions to any food or drug, whether they have diseases like HIV or tuberculosis. Such people will not be given the vaccine. Women who are pregnant or lactating mothers will not be given the vaccine.

I also told the recipients that they should come to the emergency ward of the hospital if they had high-fever or breathing trouble or allergy after receiving the shot.

I am now looking forward to my turn to receive the vaccine.