New Delhi: The Union Health Ministry said Tuesday it is prepared to roll out COVID-19 vaccine within about a week. However, the Health Ministry said that a final decision regarding the launch date will be taken by the government. In any case there is every possibility of COVID-19 vaccination starting in India by January 10.
Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan gave this information at a press conference. He said healthcare and frontline workers need not register themselves for the vaccination drive. This is because their database has been uploaded on the Co-WIN vaccine delivery management system in a bulk. The provision of registration and editing of data would arise while immunising the population priority group, informed Bhushan.
“Based on the feedback from the dry-run of vaccination drive, the Health Ministry is ready to introduce COVID-19 vaccine within a week the date of emergency use authorisation,” Bhushan said.
The Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) had Sunday approved Oxford-AstraZeneca’s Covishield and indigenously developed Covaxin of Bharat Biotech.
NITI Aayog member (Health) Dr VK Paul said an optimistic scenario is emerging with the pandemic situation in India consistently improving. He said the daily increase in terms of active cases and new deaths are declining.
“Let’s hope this trend will continue. In terms of the new UK mutant issue, this variant has entered India and 71 people have been isolated. This shows our capacity to mount that kind of a scientific investigation. Also, we have not seen emergence of any untoward cluster in the country as of now which is reassuring,” Dr Paul said.
Dr Paul said that the two vaccines that have been granted approval for restricted emergency use by the DCGI, all scientific and statutory requirements have been met and regulatory norms followed. “No vaccine today in any country has got regular authorisation. The world is exercising this option using scientific criteria and thinking to take decision in larger interest of public health and humanity,” he said.
In the context of Covaxin, Dr Paul said, “We are happy that none of the mutations have challenged the existing vaccines, including the two which got approval in India. The aim is to have enough vaccines by July to cover at least 30 crore prioritised people.
Explaining the existing logistics management involved and to be adopted in the vaccination chain, Bhushan mentioned that the vaccine will be transported under refrigerated condition and digitally tracked during transit.
Manufacturers transport the vaccines to four primary vaccine stores, at Karnal, Mumbai, Kolkata and Chennai. From there, it is transported in bulk to the 37 state vaccine stores for further dissemination.