Expert hails Govt's decision to begin COVID-19 vaccination on Jan 16

The govt's decision to launch its COVID-19 vaccination drive on January 16 with nearly three crore healthcare and frontline workers to be vaccinated on a priority basis, has been hailed by health experts of the country. The DCGI issued emergency use authorisation to Serum Institute of India (SII's) COVISHIELD and Bharat Biotech's COVAXIN on January 3.

New Delhi: Immediately after a high-level meeting chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday finalised January 16 to kick-off the Covid-19 vaccination, senior experts in India's health sector hailed the decision.

Talking to ETV Bharat, Dr Giridhar Gyani, director general of Association of Health Care Providers-India said that it was a good move to start the mega vaccination process after several forthcoming festivals.

"After the emergency approval for vaccination, it was necessary to get at least two weeks to prepare the entire vaccination process. Starting from logistics issue to identification of vaccination centres and final agreements with both private and public airlines to transport the vaccine consignment," said Dr Gyani.

He said that two weeks was also necessary for the manufacturers to produce more vaccines.

"Once we start the vaccination, the vaccine producers could be able to produce and place more vaccines in place," said Gyani.

After the subject expert committee (SEC) of India's apex drug regulator recommended emergency use authorisation to Serum Institute of India (SII's) COVISHIELD and Bharat Biotech's COVAXIN, the DCGI on January 3 approved both the vaccines.

Government sources said that each state will have vaccines centres between 600-700 in numbers. Delhi has setup 621 vaccination centres.

Talking to this Correspondent, Dr Tamorish Kole, president of Asian Society for Emergency Medicine said, "It was good to prepare ourselves with proper time in hand. We got time to conduct the dry run and it was perfect."

He said that during the dry run all issues concerning the vaccination process have been resolved.

"States and UT administrations have been provided with time to prepare themselves. It was necessary to look into the critical factor of any side effects of vaccination," said Dr Kole.

On Saturday, two back to back high-level meeting took place over the vaccination process.

In the first meeting, Prime Minister Narendra Modi reviewed the status of Covid-19 in the country. He reviewed the preparedness of States and UTs for Covid vaccination.

Cabinet Secretary Rajiv Gauba, principal secretary to Prime Minister Dr PK Mishra, Health Secretary Rajesh Bhusan, and other senior officials were present in the meeting.

The initial phase of vaccination has been prioritised with health care workers and the frontline workers who are estimated to be around 3 crores, followed by those above 50 years of age and under 50 years populations group with co-morbidities numbering around 27 crores.

The finance ministry has already sanctioned Rs 480 crore initially for the first phase of vaccination.

The second meeting during the day took place at the Health Ministry where health secretary Rajesh Bhushan reviewed the overall scenario.

He had a video conferencing with State health secretaries and reviewed their preparedness for vaccination.

The health ministry has asked all states and UTs to be extra cautious as far as the use of Co-WIN digital app is concerned.

"We have been receiving reports that anti-social elements could target people with dubious apps to lure money. Accordingly, we have instructed all the states and UTs to take maximum precautions to avoid any mischief of anti-social elements," an official in the health ministry said.

In fact, the Home Ministry has also asked the authorities in states and UTs to take action against anybody found involved in any kind of vaccine racket.

The Co-WIN app has been developed to provide real-time information of vaccine stocks, their storage temperature and individualized tracking of beneficiaries of the Covid-19 vaccine.

The digital platform will help in automated session allocation, verification and post-vaccination certificate to recipients.

It may be mentioned here that more than 61,000 programme managers, 2 lakh vaccinators and 37 lakh other vaccination team members have been trained so far as part of trainings at states, district and block levels.