Modi terms it landmark step in fight against Covid-19; rollout date chosen as festivals will be over by Jan 15
Two days after celebrating Lohri, Makar Sankranti, Pongal, Magh Bihu, etc, India will kick off the much-awaited anti-coronavirus vaccination drive from January 16, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi terming the news as a “landmark step forward in fighting Covid-19”.
The decision to launch the vaccination programme from next Saturday was taken hours after the Prime Minister chaired a high-level meeting with senior officials to review the Covid situation in the country and finalise vaccine rollout details.
It was felt that since people will be busy celebrating their local festivals beginning January 13, it will be difficult to rope them for the inoculation drive. January 16 was chosen to ensure everything goes smoothly, said a senior official from the Union Health Ministry.
Earlier in the day, Modi at the inaugural address of the 16th Pravasi Bhartiya Divas convention via video-conferencing said that “India is self-reliant in the battle against the novel coronavirus pandemic. India used to import PPE kits, masks, ventilators, and testing kits from outside but today our nation is self-reliant. Today India is ready to save humanity with two ‘Made in India’ Covid-19 vaccines.”
The plan to roll out the jabs comes days after two rounds of dry run across the country and approval of the two vaccines — Serum Institute of India’s Covishield and Bharat Biotech’s Covaxin which have been given emergency use authorisation or accelerated approval by the top drug regulator.
The Centre said that in the first phase starting from January 16, nearly 30 million healthcare and frontline workers will be inoculated, followed by those above 50 years of age and the under-50 population groups with co-morbidities.
“The rollout 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 Centre said in a release here.
The Prime Minister had chaired a meeting on Saturday to review the status of the coronavirus pandemic in the country along with the preparedness of the States and Union Territories (UTs) for the vaccination drive. The meeting was attended by Cabinet Secretary, Principal Secretary to PM, Health Secretary, the release added.
“After the detailed review, it was decided that in view of the forthcoming festivals including Lohri, Makar Sankranti, Pongal, Magh Bihu, etc, the vaccination will start from 16th January 2021,” the release said.
During the meeting, Modi was briefed about the preparedness status of the Centre in close collaboration with States and UTs for rolling out vaccine doses in near future and was also informed about the Co-Win app.
Co-Win is a digitised platform that will provide real-time information of vaccine stocks, storage temperature, and individualised tracking of beneficiaries of the vaccine. Over 7.9 million beneficiaries have been registered on the app.
“Over 61,000 programme managers, 200,00 vaccinators, and 3,70,000 other vaccination team members have been trained so far as part of the training at the States, districts, and block levels,” said the statement.
“The vaccination exercise will be guided by the principles of people’s participation (Jan Bhagidari); utilising experience of elections (booth strategy) and Universal Immunization Program (UIP).
There will be no compromise of existing healthcare services, especially national programmes and primary health care; no compromise on scientific and regulatory norms, other SOPs. Technology will be used for an orderly and smooth implementation of the rollout,” as per the plan chalked out by the Government.
The Prime Minister was also apprised about the Co-WIN Vaccine Delivery Management System which will provide real-time information of vaccine stocks, their storage temperature, and individualised tracking of beneficiaries of the Covid-19 vaccine.
This platform will assist the programme 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.
