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Countries around the world are looking for ways to vaccinate their populations against COVID-19.
But India, with its huge population of 1.3 billion, faces a greater challenge than most.
The country has set aside $ 7bn (£ 5.3bn) and the Union government has created a task force to plan the distribution of the vaccine across the country.
He has directed states to identify the people who would be on the priority list to receive the first doses.
An estimated 250 to 300 million people, including frontline health and essential services workers, medical students, law enforcement, teachers and the military, would be on that list.
Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan said that “the prioritization of groups to be vaccinated will be based on key considerations.
“In the first place, the occupational risk due to the risk of exposure to infection and, secondly, the risk of developing a serious disease and increased mortality.”
The government will purchase the vaccine directly from its producers and make it available to this priority group free of charge.
India has been among the countries most affected by the pandemic
The task force has started to identify primary health care centers, school premises and village community centers that will be used to vaccinate people.
But the logistics required to reach all the Indians will present a Herculean task.
India is nearly 2,000 miles north to south and east to west as well, and access to some places is extremely difficult.
Added to this are the vaccination protocols to be followed in terms of maintaining the cold chain, the availability of adequate syringes and the actual implementation of vaccination.
For months, the summer heat will make it difficult for healthcare workers to keep vaccines cool enough, especially in rural India.
Speaking to an Indian channel, Dr. Randeep Guleria, a member of the task force, said that those who are not on the priority list may have to wait more than a year to receive the vaccine.
“In our country the population is large; we need time to see how the vaccine can be bought on the market as a flu vaccine and taken,” he said.
“Maintaining the cold chain, having adequate syringes, adequate needles and being able to bring it to the most remote part of the country in a fluid way is the biggest challenge.”
The Electronic Vaccine Intelligence Network (eVIN) system will be used to provide real-time information on vaccine stocks and storage temperatures at all points in the cold chain in the country. EVIN is an Indian technology system used in the country’s universal immunization program since 2015.
The junior health minister said: “The eVIN system is being improved to address the needs and distribution and monitoring of COVID-19 vaccines whenever available. “
Although the country has been effective in implementing its immunization programs for babies and pregnant women, there has not been such a huge and vast project to vaccinate every citizen of the country.
COVID-19 vaccination will be a gigantic task for the overburdened healthcare system, particularly in rural India.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi proposed to use the experience of successful election conduction and disaster management to develop the vaccine delivery and distribution system, with the participation of states, district and village level officials, civil society organizations. , volunteers, citizens and experts from all the necessary domains.
For decades, successive governments have spent just over 1.2% of GDP on public health. In the face of a severe pandemic, this neglected and distressed infrastructure could collapse, affecting the poorest in this country.
Almost 70% of citizens use private hospitals, clinics and doctors. The cost of health care has been rising, and illness can drive a family into poverty.
India is the second most affected country after the United States with more than 8.6 million coronavirus cases and 127,615 reported deaths.
