The Center plans to procure COVID-19 vaccines directly from drug manufacturers and distribute them to priority groups under a special coronavirus immunization program, official sources said, according to the news agency. PTI.
During the initial phase, front-line workers and groups most at risk of serious complications from COVID-19 will receive the doses. The coronavirus vaccine will be free for the priority group, according to reports. Union states and territories have been asked not to chart separate procurement routes, according to reports.
This special COVID-19 immunization program would run in parallel with the Universal Immunization Program, but will use its processes, technology and network from the existing vaccine distribution framework, the sources said.
The central government has already started the process of identifying some 30 million priority beneficiaries. It has demarcated four categories of people for vaccination in the initial phase: around a crore of health professionals, including doctors, MBBS students, nurses and ASHA workers, etc .; about two million frontline workers, including workers in municipal corporations, police personnel and the armed forces; about 26 million people over the age of 50; and a special group of children under 50 with comorbidities and requiring specialized care.
States and union territories have been asked to submit a list of key workers and vulnerable groups who will receive the vaccine first.
“States were asked to enlist priority population groups in mid-November … Every person on the immunization list will be linked with their Aadhaar cards to track them,” a source said, cited PTI.
“The existing digital platform and processes used for the Universal Immunization Program (UIP) are being improved to track the administration and movement of the COVID-19 vaccine, from acquisition to storage and distribution to individual beneficiaries, to as the vaccine becomes available, “health ministry officials told the news agency.
The National Committee of Experts on Vaccine Administration for COVID-19 has already mapped the existing cold chain being used under the government’s immunization program and has also projected the additional requirement, Ministry of Health officials previously mentioned. The committee is currently working on mapping private sector facilities that could meet the needs of supplementing cold chain equipment.
Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan has previously stated that the Center estimates it will receive and use 40 to 50 crore doses of COVID-19 vaccine covering around 25 crore people by July next year. “The government is working around the clock to ensure that there is a fair and equitable distribution of the vaccines, once they are ready,” he said.
Currently, three candidate vaccines are in different phases of testing in India. Two homegrown candidate vaccines, Covaxin from Bharat Biotech and ZyCoV-D from Zydus Cadila, have already started the phase II clinical trial. Another vaccine candidate, Covishield, developed by the University of Oxford, has recently started the phase III clinical trial in India.
Covaxin also received approval from the drug regulator to start the large-scale phase III clinical trial in the country. Dr Reddy’s Laboratories will soon begin phase II clinical trials of the Russian COVID-19 Sputnik V vaccine in India.
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