Though the BJP has promised free coronavirus vaccine for everyone in Bihar but, in actual, the vaccine, once available, will be distributed under a special COVID-19 immunisation programme with the Centre procuring the doses directly and making it available for priority groups free-of-cost and states have been asked not to chart separate pathways of procurement.
This special COVID-19 immunisation programme would run in parallel with the Universal Immunisation Programme, but will use its processes, technology and network of the existing vaccine distribution framework. The Centre has started the process of identifying around 30 crore priority beneficiaries who will be given vaccine in the initial phase. The government has demarcated four categories of people for vaccination in the initial phase -- around one crore healthcare professionals including doctors, MBBS students, nurses and ASHA workers, etc.; around two crore frontline workers including municipal corporation workers, personnel of the police and armed forces; about 26 crore people aged above 50; and a special group of those below 50 years of age with co-morbidities and requiring specialised care.
The existing digital platform and processes used for the Universal Immunisation Programme (UIP) are being enhanced to track COVID-19 vaccine administration and movement -- from procurement to storage to distribution to individual beneficiaries -- as and when the vaccine becomes available, Health Ministry officials have said. Also, online training modules are being developed for vaccinators. The digital platform that is being enhanced is Electronic Vaccine Intelligence Network (eVIN), which provides real-time information on vaccinestocks and storage temperatures across all cold chain points in the country under UIP.
Under UIP, children, adolescents and pregnant women are currently vaccinated against vaccine-preventable diseases free-of-cost by the state. The National Expert Committee on Vaccine Administration for COVID-19has already mapped the existing cold chain being utilised under the government's immunisation programme and has also made a projection of the additional requirement, Health Ministry officials had said earlier.
Presently, the committee is engaged in
mapping private sector facilities that could serve the needs of supplementing
the cold chain equipment.
Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan
has said that the Centre estimates to receive and utilise 40-50 crore doses of
COVID-19 vaccine covering around 25 crore people by July next year.
Vardhan had said the government is
working round-the-clock to ensure that there is a fair and equitable
distribution of vaccines, once they are ready.
The biggest benefit that India has is
that it has a robust immunisation programme in place and it is implementing the
largest immunisation programme of the world, with nearly 27 million newborns
targeted for immunisation annually, the minister said.
“We have an established infrastructure
for supply, storage and delivery of vaccines to the last mile, under our
Universal Immunisation Programme, where we are administering around 600 million
doses to children every year,” he said.
“The strength of these experiences in
the vaccination landscape, our best practices and the robustness of our health
delivery System will be leveraged and augmented using a strong IT backbone to
ensure that this humongous national mission of vaccinating the identified
priority groups with COVID-19 vaccine is achieved in a timely manner. The
Indian government will leverage the integrated IT platform eVin for managing
vaccine distribution,” Vardhan said.
Vardhan re-affirmed the commitment of
the Indian government and assured that it has accorded top most priority to the
research and manufacturing to ensure that the vaccine reaches to the last
person.
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