The Union Health Ministry announced on Thursday that Prime Minister Narendra Modi will unveil the launch of India’s Covid-19 vaccination program on January 16.
It is also highly likely that Modi will launch the Co-WIN (COVID Vaccine Intelligence Network) app, a virtual platform created for real-time tracking of COVID-19 vaccine delivery and distribution, they said.
This will be the world’s largest nationwide vaccination program and they are in a position to publish the program according to the principles of ‘Jan Bhagidari’, the Prime Minister’s Office said in a statement.
Prime Minister Modi will unveil the India-wide rollout of the COVID-19 vaccination campaign on January 16 at 10:30 a. m. via video conference, the Prime Minister’s Office said.
A total of 3,006 consultation sites across all states and UTs will be virtually connected at the time of launch and around hundred beneficiaries will be vaccinated at each consultation site on the first day, he said.
On the other hand, sources said Modi would likely interact via video conference with some fitness staff across the country who would receive the injections on the first day.
Officials at New Delhi’s AIIMS and Safdarjung hospitals, which are the shortlisted facilities, said they were “ready for two-way communication. “
The Prime Minister’s office said the vaccination program is based on the precept that the preceding teams deserve to be vaccinated first. Healthcare workers, whether in the public or personal sector, as well as Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) workers, will receive the vaccine during this phase.
India’s Comptroller General of Medicines (DCGI) earlier this month approved the Oxford COVID-19 Covishield vaccine, manufactured through the Serum Institute, and Bharat Biotech’s locally developed Covaxin vaccine for limited emergency use in the country, paving the way for a major vaccination campaign.
Adequate doses of Covishield and Covaxin have already been delivered across the country to all states/UTs with the active participation of the Ministry of Civil Aviation. These were then given to the districts through the state and UT governments, the PMO said.
The vaccination programme will use Co-WIN, an online digital platform developed by Union Health Ministry, which will facilitate real-time information of vaccine stocks, storage temperature and individualised tracking of beneficiaries for COVID-19 vaccine.
This virtual platform will help program managers in all grade level vaccination sessions, the PMO said.
A dedicated 24×7 call centre – 1075 – has also been established for addressing the queries related to COVID-19 pandemic, vaccine rollout and the Co-WIN software.
Earlier in the day, the health ministry said, “The massive countrywide COVID-19 vaccination drive will be rolled out by Prime Minister from January 16…Therefore, it has been decided by the Ministry of Health in consultation with the office of the President of India to reschedule the Polio vaccination day, also known as the National Immunisation Day (NID) or ‘Polio Ravivar’ to 31st January.”
The entire initial procurement of 1. 65 crore doses of COVID-19 vaccines (Covishield and Covaxin) has been allocated to all states and UTs in proportion to their healthcare database.
“Therefore, there is no issue of discrimination against any state in the allocation of vaccine doses. This is a first batch of vaccine doses that will be replenished frequently in the coming weeks. Therefore, any fears expressed due to the lack of a vaccine source are absolutely unfounded and unfounded,” the ministry said.
States have been urged to conduct immunization clinics with 10 percent storage/waste of doses and an average of one hundred vaccinations per visit per day.
Therefore, it is not advisable for states to unduly rush to organize an excessive number of vaccinations per day, the ministry said on Wednesday.
The states and UTs have also been advised to increase the number of vaccination session sites that would be operational every day in a progressive manner as the vaccination process stabilizes and moves forward.
According to the government, the vaccines will first be administered to around one million health workers and around two million frontline workers, then to other people over the age of 50, and then to other people under the age of 50 with related comorbidities.
The responsibility for vaccinating health and frontline services will be borne by the central government.
(With PTI inputs.)