India begins collecting details of healthcare workers for Covid 19 vaccine

As the government starts finalising its Covid 19 vaccination strategy, it has embarked on a database building exercise for healthcare workers and other frontline staff, who would be the first to get the jab. Among the first to get vaccinated will be the healthcare workers who have been at the forefront in the fight against Covid 19. “There is expectation that the roll out of the first vaccine in India will be next month,” a person familiar with the development said.

The centre is currently putting in place a fool-proof distribution strategy for administering the vaccine. The country’s seniors with comorbidity conditions will also be given priority. A source said that the vaccine may be made available for citizens in cities and districts categorised as hotspots. In India, cities including Mumbai, Pune, Delhi, Bengaluru are among the worst affected by the virus.

On Friday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that about eight vaccines in India are at different stages of trial and once the scientists give the necessary approvals, they would be made available for the citizens.

While India has registered over 96 lakh Coronavirus cases, currently the active cases are less than 4.10 lakh. Most of the active cases are concentrated in the cities, data showed.

Besides, India’s daily count of coronavirus cases increased by less than 40,000 for the sixth consecutive days. The daily rate has come down after the sudden surge in the festive season which saw Delhi being the worst hit.

Modi, who interacted with a team of vaccine developers from Zydus Biotech Park, Bharat Biotech and Serum Institute of India (SII) last week, also underlined the need to ensure that rumours and false news, which are anti-national and anti-human, are not spread during vaccination.

Meanwhile, on December 9, a high level delegation comprising ambassadors and high commissioners from about 80 countries will be visiting the Hyderabad-based Bharat Biotech and BE limited which are working on the development of a vaccine. Information on key research and development status of the vaccine development in the country will also be shared with the high-level dignitaries.

The UK has already approved the Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine. The roll out of the vaccine will begin next week. Russia could also start its vaccination exercise with the launch of Sputnik V.

The World Health Organisation on Friday said that as the vaccines hit the market, the world “can begin to dream about the end of the pandemic.”

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