Soon after meeting, date for rollout of vaccination will be announced
India carried out the second Covid-19 vaccination dry run on Friday as it geared up for the rollout of the nationwide drive, the final strategy of which will be discussed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi with the State Chief Ministers in a meeting on Monday.
Sources in the Government said that soon after the high-level meeting chaired by Modi, the final date for the rollout of the Covid jab is likely to be announced.
The second dry run for the Covid-19 vaccination rollout was conducted in select hospitals in 736 districts across 33 States and Union Territories on Friday. Following the mock drill, Union Health Minister Dr Harshvardhan said that soon it would be a reality to vaccinate the entire population in India against the novel coronavirus, after prioritising risk groups. He was in Tamil Nadu to take stock of the dry run being carried out there.
The Centre has started a new Covid platform to track particulars of potential vaccine beneficiaries and also issue electronic certificates to them, he told reporters after reviewing the dry run of administering Covid-19 vaccine at the Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital as part of a State-wide programme.
“In the next few days, also in the near future, we should be able to give this vaccine to our countrymen prioritising those who are at risk in public and private sectors. The Government has already made known the scheme of things,” he added.
In a country that is vast like India with a population of 1.35 billion, everything was done smoothly and meticulously without any glitches, he said adding that several lakhs of health workers have been trained adequately.
The details of this 150-page document have been shared with all stakeholders to make the vaccination drive successful, he added.
The Minister said that the vaccines could be made available to “our countrymen” in the next few days. He said that the Government is ensuring every detail of the vaccination programme is conveyed to the people, ie from the national level to the grassroots level.
The Government, in the first phase of vaccination, is aiming to inoculate 30 crore people from the priority groups like frontline health workers, elderly people and those with comorbidities. However, the first to be inoculated will be frontline workers and healthcare professionals.
On January 3, the Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) had granted restricted emergency use authorisation to the Serum Institute of India (SII)’s Covishield and Bharat Biotech’s Covaxin vaccine.
Saturday, 09 January 2021 | PNS | New Delhi
