Covid-19 immunisation plan: Blueprint likely to focus on digital tools, using schools as vaccine booths

Covid-19 vaccination programme: Even before India gets its hands on a safe Coronavirus vaccine, the expert group which has been entrusted with formulating the blueprint of the country’s Covid-19 immunisation programme has started working at full throttle. In a country as humongous in length and breadth as ours, the expert group is zeroing on the use of various digital tools including QR code certificate, delivery of SMS to vaccine beneficiaries among others to make the system efficient and foolproof, the Indian Express reported.

With the Covid-19 immunisation programme slated to be the largest ever the country has experienced, the expert group is considering to rope in various primary and secondary schools dotted across the country to function as temporary healthcare centres. In a recent meeting held with the expert group PM Narendra Modi also suggested that the expert group should design the programme on the lines of the general election which has been conducted successfully year after year under the supervision of the Election Commission.

A close source who was part of the deliberation told the Indian Express that the programme will have to go beyond the existing healthcare facilities and will need to include schools in its ambit just like they are used during the election time as polling booths. The source also said that the group is also adding new features into the eVIN (Electronic Vaccine Intelligence Network) which has been indigenously designed to track the stocks of the Covid-19 vaccine digitally. The eVIN network might also be added with a new feature to identify the vaccine beneficiary who is to be vaccinated, the source added. The eVIN has already been equipped to track the stocks of the vaccine from the stage of procurement to storage in various cold storages and its movement to various health facilities.

With the help of the beneficiary identification technology, the beneficiaries will be sent a message informing them about their scheduled vaccination sessions including the date, time, location, etcetera. The source also added that a QR generated certificate will be produced once a person has been vaccinated and no side effects of the vaccine are reported. Beneficiaries will also be given an opportunity to store their Covid-19 immunisation certificate in DigiLocker which is another digital tool devised by the government.