The health ministry is prepared to roll out the covid vaccine within ten days of the emergency-use authorisation which was granted on January 3. However, the final date will be decided by the government, Rajesh Bhushan, health secretary said on Tuesday.
“Based on the feedback of dry-run, we are ready to introduce Covid-19 vaccine within 10 days from date of emergency use authorisation. Final decision will be taken by the government,” Bhushan said.
Addressing the weekly briefing on the covid and vaccine situation in India, Bhushan said that the health workers including doctors and nurses and the frontline workers such as police personnel, home guards will not have to register themselves on the online platform to get the vaccine. Their data has already been uploaded on the Co-Win vaccine delivery management system.
As for the remaining population above 50 years of age and those with co-morbidities, a committee of health experts is studying the linkages between diseases and increased mortality if there is a Covid infection. The committee will suggest who among this group will be given top priority and how the vaccine will be rolled out for the. “We are almost there...we have very eminent people working on it,” V K Paul, member-health, Niti Aayog said.
Paul also said that scientific rigour statutory requirements have been met and regulatory norms followed in granting the restricted use permission to the two vaccine candidates - Covishield and Covaxin.
The third vaccine candidate by US based Pfizer and Germany’s BioNtech which has also applied for emergency approval has not yet made its presentation to the subject expert committee (SEC). “Pfizer has been given three opportunities but they have not appeared before the SEC...SEC is willing to listen to their presentation,” Bhushan added.
Manufacturers will air transport will transfer the vaccine to four large depots which are the primary vaccine stores in Karnal, Mumbai, Chennai and Kolkata. From these depots, the vaccine will travel through refrigerated vans to 37 state vaccine stores. These are places where vaccines can reach in bulk. Thereafter the vaccine will reach districts where there are temperature controlled facilities. It will then reach primary health centres.
“This digitally monitored network has been there in our country to monitor the logistics real time, such as temperature trackers. They upload real time information onto a central server,” Bhushan said.
The Co-Win platform is being upgraded to cater to a target group of 30 crore individuals. Beneficiaries will be given an option to generate a unique health ID while registering for vaccination. This health ID is part of the government’s national digital health mission.
The online system will also require Aadhaar verification ‘to prevent malpractice.’ The software is being upgraded to improve its user interface based on the feedback received from the dry-run for vaccine administration held on January 2.
Bhushan also said that the average recovered cases from Covid-19 have exceeded average daily new cases for the last five weeks. Of the total active cases, 43.96 per cent patients were in healthcare facilities, while 56.04 per cent were in home isolation.
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