The vaccine will also be administered to 27 crore elderly, mostly above the age of 50
As India gears up to launch the world's largest immunisation drive, Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan on Saturday said that one crore healthcare workers would be given the vaccine free in the first phase of the inoculation drive.
"In the first phase of vaccination, free vaccine will be provided across the nation to most prioritised beneficiaries that include one crore healthcare and two crore frontline workers," Vardhan said in a tweet.
He, however, added, that the details of how the remaining 27 crore priority beneficiaries will be vaccinated till July is getting finalised. The central government plans to vaccinate nearly 30 crore people in the first phase of the immunisation drive. Other than three crore frontline workers, these include 27 crore elderly, mostly above the age of 50 with comorbidities.
Notably, the vaccine is slated to be rolled out soon as the one developed by Oxford-AstraZeneca has been recommended by an expert panel, tasked with vetting COVID-19 vaccine proposals, and forwarded to the Drug Controller General of India for approval.
Dry runs begin
Almost all states and Union Territory (UT) governments, including the national capital, conducted a dry run on Saturday to assess their ability and readiness to administer COVID-19 shots to hundreds of millions of people, including many in remote corners of the country.
On the Centre's directive, Delhi, Punjab and Haryana along with Andhra Pradesh, Assam and Gujarat were among many states and UTs who conducted a dry run for COVID-19 vaccination, aimed at testing the laid out mechanisms for the vaccination roll-out in the health system.
The Centre had directed earlier to conduct a dry run by all state and UTs on January 2 to test the linkages between planning and implementation, and to identify the challenges. As per the guidelines issued by the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, all states selected their particular areas and districts to hold the dry run exercise at various government medical college, hospitals, medical centres and the community health centres.
Dummy jabs in MP
Nearly 75 health workers underwent dummy vaccination in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh, on Saturday. The mock vaccination programme was conducted at three health centres in the state capital—Gandhi Nagar community health centre (CHC), Govindpura CHC and LN Hospital.
As part of the process, SMSes were sent to the health workers, in which they were asked to come to these health facilities, he added. "After the dummy vaccination shots were given to them, these health workers were asked to wait for 30 minutes at the centres so that they are kept under observation, like in the actual vaccination plan," an official said.
UK arrivals carry new strain
The four passengers who returned from the UK on December 22 and had tested positive at the Ahmedabad airport, have been found to be infected with the new strain of Coronavirus, which is considered more infectious than the current strain.
Fifteen other passengers from the same flight from UK had also tested positive and the Gujarat government is awaiting the results of tests from the National Institute of Virology Pune. "We are awaiting the results of the 15 other samples sent to the NIV and we will probably receive them in five to six days," Jayanti Ravi of Health and family Welfare Department, Gujarat, said.
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