The national expert group on vaccine administration for Covid-19 which met for the first time on Wednesday to deliberate on various issues pertaining to the procurement mechanisms for the vaccine has advised all the States not to chart separate pathways of procurement of the shots whenever they are readied.

The suggestion came to ensure the central control on the distribution of the vaccine and the States do not start purchasing the vaccine at their whims and fancies as had happened in the case of the purchase of rapid antigen testing kits, some of which were later found to be faulty.

“Some States had purchased the RT-PCR and rapid antigen kits which created lots of confusion. In the matter of vaccine, we want the process to be smooth and distribution is as per requirements,” said a senior official who attended the meeting chaired by Niti Aayog Member, Dr. V K Paul, with Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan as co-chair.

Three vaccine candidates are in different stages of human clinical trials in India -the Covid-19 vaccine candidate developed by University of Oxford by Pune-based Serum Institute of India, the inactivated virus vaccine by Bharat Biotech and the DNA vaccine by Zydus Cadila.

In the meeting the group deliberated on conceptualisation and implementation mechanisms for creation of a digital infrastructure for inventory management and delivery mechanism of the vaccine, including tracking of vaccination process with particular focus on last mile delivery.

The group also deliberated on the procurement mechanisms for Covid-19 vaccine, including both indigenous and international manufacturing along with guiding principles for prioritisation of population groups for vaccination.

They discussed broad parameters guiding the selection of the Covid-19 vaccine candidates for the country and sought inputs from the Standing Technical Sub-Committee of the National Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation (NTAGI).

Besides this, it also discussed the financial resources required for procurement of the Covid-19 vaccine and various options of financing the same. Available options in terms of delivery platforms, cold chain and associated infrastructure for roll out of Covid-19 vaccination were also taken up.

India’s support to its key neighbours and development partner countries for Covid-19 vaccines was also taken up.