India is seeking to vaccinate some 30 million people, including health specialists, who are on the front lines of the fight against coronavirus disease (Covid-19) in the first phase once protection against viral disease is available, officials from the Union Health Ministry said on Tuesday.
The 30 million include 7 million doctors and paramedics, plus another 20 million front-line healthcare workers, Union health secretary Rajesh Bhushan said on the sidelines of a Covid-19 press conference. .
The country already has the infrastructure to vaccinate the 30 million, Bhushan said. “We have the cold chain, vials, syringes and everything,” he added.
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The first phase of vaccination has been tentatively scheduled between January and June 2021.
“In the deliberations of the national committee of experts on vaccine administration, we have prepared a draft prioritization plan. We have also tried to match the numbers that have come out of this preliminary plan with the number of doses that would be tentatively available from January to July 2021. And we believe that if the current trials go according to plan and are successful, then The number of doses that will be available from January to July 2021 would be enough to immunize people on the priority list. That is what we are working on… ”said Bhushan.
They added that even after a vaccine is available, people cannot afford to lower their guard.
“The same precautions (against the disease) will need to continue even after the Covid-19 vaccine is developed. We have to be cautious … we have to test, try and isolate to have a good time. The requirement for this can be gradually reduced over time, but there is no room for relaxation, ”said Dr. Balram Bhargava, head of the Indian Council for Medical Research (ICMR).
India has been running a successful Universal Immunization Program for the past 50 years, vaccinating some 25 million children and adults every year.
“As a result, there are already more than 28,000 cold rooms across the country that are used to store various vaccines administered under the program. All of these facilities have temperature trackers that help upload information in real time to our centralized server, ”said Bhushan.
“We also have our own digital platform that has all the updated information, from the acquisition of vaccines to storage, the cold chain and transport in refrigerated vehicles. If non-refrigerated vehicles are used, a special type of refrigerated boxes where the temperature is regulated is used to transport the vaccines in them. This facility already exists in India, and what the government is contemplating is how to scale up this facility to be able to administer the Covid-19 vaccine. For this, we have a committee of experts at the national level, “he added.
Some private hospitals claim they have the infrastructure to store and administer large doses of the Covid-19 vaccine. The health secretary said the government was collaborating with private entities.
“We are in constant contact with private sector healthcare providers, and as the outline of the plan unfolds, we will share it with you. We have excess capacity for both vials and syringes nationwide in the country. We are in constant contact with manufacturers. We also have an existing inventory within the family health and welfare ministry that most people are not aware of. Therefore, we will use our inventory and also use the inventory that is currently available in the domestic industry, ”said Bhushan.
Experts say it’s good to be prepared. “Nobody knows when the vaccine will be available, but when it is, many countries will be online to purchase it. It makes sense to start preparing now, ”said Dr. K Srinath Reddy, founder of the Public Health Foundation of India.
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