COVID-19 vaccination Phase 1 begins today: Here's how India has planned the drive
The first phase of the COVID-19 vaccination should be completed within a few months. India is banking on its experience in handling large crowds during the elections.
The COVID-19 pandemic has taken away a year of our lives and with vaccines being approved, governments in various parts of the world have started vaccination drives. Here’s what India is doing.
In India, two vaccines have been approved for use so far: Covishield and Covaxin.
The inoculation drive will be launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi via a virtual address to 3,006 session sites across all states and Union Territories.
India will start off by vaccinating around three crore of its front-line workers. This includes health workers, safai karmacharis, the Army and disaster management volunteers. Around 100 people may be vaccinated at each centre on January 16.
The first phase of the vaccination should be completed within a few months. India is banking on its experience in handling large crowds during the elections.
Each site is expected to function like an election booth and will run from 9 am to 5 pm. People who have arrived before 5 pm will still be vaccinated even if it crosses that time.
The Election Commission has agreed to share the latest electoral roll data to help identify priority groups. All the centres will have three hard copies of these names. For January 16, these names have already been uploaded to the government’s Co-Win portal.
The first phase of the vaccination drive will be free. This should cover for the first three crore prioritised beneficiaries. The vaccine will be administered in two doses, each of which will have to take place 28 days apart. Information will be uploaded in real-time to the Co-Win portal and will be monitored using the beneficiaries’ Aadhaar details.
Distribution of the vaccine is based on geography, so states with the highest number of infections will have priority. In turn, states will decide how to distribute at the district level.
In preparation of the vaccine roll-out, India has already conducted mock drills to figure out deficiencies and loopholes. Additionally, a dedicated helpline number – 1075 – has also been created to address queries.