The COVID Vaccine Intelligence Network (Co-WIN) system, a digitised platform, will be used to track the enlisted beneficiaries and the COVID-19 vaccines on a real-time basis, according to the COVID-operational guidelines released by the Health Ministry recently.
The guidelines said the latest electoral roll for Lok Sabha and Legislative Assembly elections will be used to identify the priority population over the age of 50. The guidelines added that at the vaccination site, only pre-registered beneficiaries will be vaccinated in accordance with the prioritisation, and there will be no provision for on-the-spot registrations.
The Health Ministry has said the COVID-19 vaccine will be offered first to healthcare workers, frontline workers and to persons above 50, followed by persons younger than 50 with associated co-morbidities based on evolving pandemic situation, and finally to the remaining population based on the disease epidemiology and vaccine availability.
The priority group of above 50 years may be further subdivided into those above 60 years and those between 50 to 60 years for purposes of phased rollout, based on pandemic situation and vaccine availability.
The 113-page operational guideline document notes that based on the number of registered beneficiaries and the priority accorded, vaccination sessions will be planned to allow one session for 100 beneficiaries.
“While most of the healthcare and frontline workers would be vaccinated at fixed session sites, vaccination of other high-risk populations may require outreach session sites, and mobile sites/teams. State/UT can identify specific days for vaccination and also conduct the vaccination process similar to the election process,” said the document.
The vaccination team will include a vaccinator officer (anyone legally authorised to give injections may be considered as potential vaccinator), doctors (MBBS/BDS), staff nurse, pharmacist, and support staff. In addition, at least one person from the police, home guard, Civil defence, NCC, NSS, NYK, who will check the registration status of the beneficiary at the entry point and ensure guarded entry to the vaccination session, a person who will authenticate/verify the identification documents, two-support staff who will be responsible for crowd management, IEC/communication and support to the vaccinator.
The Ministry added that national and State training of trainers may be successfully conducted on virtual platforms and cascaded to district and sub-district levels using a mix of virtual and face-to-face trainings.
“The COVID-19 vaccine will be introduced once all trainings are completed in the district/block/planning unit,” the Ministry added.