India will start rolling out coronavirus vaccination shots from January 16 with priority being given to healthcare workers and frontline staff such as the police. The three crore individuals covered in these two categories will get the vaccine jabs free of cost.
The Prime Minister called it a "landmark step forward in fighting Covid-19" after taking the decision at a high level meeting on Saturday evening. The PM tweeted: "On 16th January, India takes a landmark step forward in fighting Covid-19. Starting that day, India's nationwide vaccination drive begins. Priority will be given to our brave doctors, healthcare workers, frontline workers including <em>safai karamcharis</em>."
The next priority group will be people over 50, followed by those under 50 but with co-morbidities. The total number of people expected to be vaccinated in the first phase is around 30 crore.
According to an official statement, the Prime Minister took a detailed and comprehensive review of status of Covid management covering various issues. Emergency use authorisation or accelerated approval has been granted by the National Regulator for two vaccines (Covishield and Covaxin) which have established safety and immunogenicity.
After the detailed review, it was decided that in view of the forthcoming festivals including Lohri, Makar Sankranti, Pongal, Magh Bihu etc., the Covid-19 vaccination will start from January 16 2021, the statement said.
The PM was also briefed about the preparedness status of the Centre in close collaboration with the State and UT governments for roll out of the vaccine. The vaccination exercise in underpinned by the principles of people’s participation (Jan Bhagidari); utilizing experience of elections (booth strategy) and Universal Immunization Program (UIP); no compromise of existing healthcare services, especially national programs and primary health care; no compromise on scientific and regulatory norms, other SOPs; and an orderly and smooth implementation driven by technology.
The roll-out of Covid-19 vaccine will provide priority to the healthcare workers and the frontline workers who are estimated to be around 3 crore, followed by those above 50 years of age and the under-50 population groups with co-morbidities numbering around 27 crore.
The Prime Minister was also apprised about the Co-WIN Vaccine Delivery Management System. The unique digital platform will provide real time information of vaccine stocks, their storage temperature and individualized tracking of beneficiaries of the Covid-19 vaccine. This platform will assist the program managers across all levels through automated session allocation for pre-registered beneficiaries, their
verification and for generating a digital certificate upon successful completion of the vaccine schedule.
More than 79 lakh beneficiaries have been already registered on the platform. As the vaccinators and vaccine administrators comprise a crucial pillar of the vaccination exercise, their training process was detailed out. 2,360 participants were trained during national level training of trainers which comprised state immunization officers, cold chain officers, IEC officials, development partners, etc. More than
61,000 programme managers, two lakh vaccinators and 3.7 lakh other vaccination team members have been trained so far as part of trainings at States, Districts and Block levels.
The Prime Minister was also apprised on the three phases of dry runs having been conducted across the country. The third dry run was conducted yesterday across 615 districts covering 4895 session sites in 33 States/UTs..
