COVID vaccine: PM Modi chairs meeting with CMs on distribution; one crore healthcare workers to get first shots

At least one crore frontline workers have been identified to receive the first dose of COVID-19 vaccine as soon as it is available, reports said, even as Prime Minister Narendra Modi is holding a crucial meeting on vaccine administration with chief ministers today.

The government has moved into an “advanced stage” of building a database for the first priority group, healthcare workers, who will receive the first dose of COVID-19 vaccine, whichever is cleared for commercial use by the Indian regulator, Indian Express quoted sources.

PM Modi is today chairing a virtual meeting with CMs and other representatives of states and Union Territories to discuss India’s COVID-19 vaccine distribution strategy and the recent resurgence in cases. This is the second such meeting with CMs since the coronavirus outbreak.

On November 23, several states issued instructions to collate data of frontline workers and vulnerable groups and create a chain infrastructure to transport the vaccine, reports said.

This comes at a time when multiple drugmakers have announced positive results from clinical trials for their COVID-19 vaccine candidates.

Serum Institute of India CEO Adar Poonawala has said they can supply around 100 million doses of Oxford-AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine per month. By July 2021, India could have around up to 400 million doses of Covishield, he said speaking to CNBC TV18.

The CEO of world's largest vaccine producer by volume said India could approve emergency use of the COVID-19 vaccine by December 2020. Once cleared, the vaccine will be used to protect priority beneficiaries identified by the Centre, including frontline healthcare workers and elderly, he said.

Poonawalla's comments came shortly after AstraZeneca, which has tied up with SII, on November 23 said its vaccine could be up to 90 percent effective, giving the world's fight against the pandemic a new weapon, cheaper to make, easier to distribute and faster to scale up than rivals.

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AIIMS director Dr Randeep Guleria told News18 that SII can apply for EUA or emergency use authorisation. “SII will have to wait for data to be authorised in the UK; based on that SII can approach Indian authorities for EUA. We can’t do that unless UK regulatory approval,” he said.

Union health secretary Rajesh Bhushan, however, told Bloomberg in an interview on November 23 that India hoped to roll out the vaccine by March 2021.

The states are also gearing up for administering COVID-19 vaccine on their part. Reports said that the many states are preparing a database of all frontline workers, who would get the vaccine dose in the first phase.

Uttar Pradesh CM Yogi Adityanath, for example, has directed officials to complete all preparations for the prospective vaccination drive by December 15. Rajasthan CM Ashok Gehlot, too, chaired a meeting of all district magistrates on November 23 in which he has directed the officials to prepare a database of frontline workers so that the vaccine can be administered to them without any hassle. He also directed officials to build small cold storages at district headquarters for storing the vaccine.