New Delhi, January 9: COVID-19 vaccination drive will kick-start on January 16 in the country. Priority will be given to the healthcare workers and the frontline workers, estimated to be around three crore, followed by those above 50 years and the under-50 population groups with co-morbidities numbering around 27 crore.
The decision was taken in a high-level meeting chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to review the status of COVID-19 in the country along with the preparedness of the State/UTs for COVID vaccination. The meeting was attended by Cabinet Secretary, Principal Secretary to PM, Health Secretary, and other senior officials concerned.
The PM took a detailed and comprehensive review of status of COVID management covering various issues. Emergency Use Authorisation or Accelerated Approval has been granted by the National Regulator for two vaccines (Covishield and Covaxin) which have established safety and immunogenicity.
The Prime Minister was also apprised about the Co-WIN Vaccine Delivery Management System. The unique digital platform will provide real time information of vaccine stocks, their storage temperature and individualized 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.
As the vaccinators and vaccine administrators comprise a crucial pillar of the vaccination exercise, their training process was detailed out. At least 2,360 participants were trained during national level Training of Trainers which comprised state immunization officers, cold chain officers, IEC officials, development partners etc. More than 61,000 programme managers, 2 lakh vaccinators and 3.7 lakh other vaccination team members have been trained so far as part of trainings at States, districts and block levels.
The Prime Minister was also apprised on the three phases of dry runs having been conducted across the country. The third dry run was conducted yesterday across 615 districts covering 4895 session sites in 33 States/UTs.
