Wednesday, 12 May 2021 | PNS | Dehradun
Committee formed to facilitate import of vaccines
The State government has formed a Covid-19 high powered task force headed by the chief secretary Om Prakash for management of the Covid surge in Uttarakhand. In another important decision, the state has formed a committee to immediately act for importing Covid vaccines through global tender.
The high powered task force formed under the chief secretary will consistently monitor Covid pandemic management, take necessary decisions considering immediate requirements and prepare an action plan for controlling the pandemic in the future. The members of this committee include additional chief secretary Manisha Panwar, secretaries Amit Singh Negi, Shailesh Bagauli and Sowjanya with secretary Pankaj Kumar Pandey as the committee’s member secretary. The other members include National Health Mission, Uttarakhand director Sonika, vice chancellor of Uttarakhand medical university, medical health and medical education director general, NHM Uttarakhand MD community medicine Dr Bhyargav Gaekwad and special invited member permitted by the chief secretary.
In the other important development, the state has formed a five-member committee to facilitate import of vaccines through global tenders. The order issued by chief secretary Om Prakash states that immediate vaccination of the public is vital considering the rising impact of the Covid pandemic. Considering the unavailability of the Covishield and Covaxin vaccines being used currently, the committee has been formed to facilitate import of these, Sputnik V and other vaccines from other countries. This committee will initiate immediate action to import the vaccines through global tender. The members of this committee include additional secretaries Yugal Kishore Pant, Arunendra Singh Chauhan, Medical Health and Family Welfare directorate’s procurement director, State finance service officer Khajan Chandra Pande and Sumanta Sharma of the state’s PPP cell.
It is pertinent to mention here that the chief secretary had recently stated that the state requires one lakh vaccine doses per day. However, currently the state is administering about half this number of vaccines daily.
