The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare announced today that the two approved COVID-19 vaccines will be rolled out in India from January 16, 2021.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi reviewed the country's preparations in a meeting today with the Ministry. After deliberating about the current vaccine infrastructure and the three dry runs conducted on December 28 & 29, January 2, and January 8, the decision of rolling out the vaccines was finalised. The date was also selected in view of the upcoming festivals of Lohri, Bihu, Pongal, and Makar Sankranti.
On January 2, a subject expert committee of the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO) recommended that the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine manufactured by Serum Institute of India and the indigenously produced Covaxin by Bharat Biotech be approved for restricted emergency use. Subsequently on January 3, the Drugs Controller General of India, in a press briefing approved the use of both the vaccines.
Many eminent scientists raised questions about the haste in which the vaccines have been approved as Bharat Biotech has still not presented efficacy data. The Ministry is yet to clarify these questions and has also not disclosed which vaccine will be administered to whom.
Even on the pricing, the Ministry has only notified that the vaccine will be free for the one crore health workers and two crore frontline workers. The methodology of selecting the 27-crore people above 50 and some below 50 with co-morbidities as well as the price at which the vaccine will be made available to this group is not transparent.
Using Co-Win Vaccine Delivery Management System, the government intends to smoothen the process of vaccination. Over 79 lakh beneficiaries have already registered on the platform. ensuring that the other immunization projects under the Universal Immunization Program remain unaffected, the Ministry has created detailed operational guidelines for COVID-19 vaccine administration.
Over 61,000 programme managers, two lakh vaccinators, and 3.7 lakh other vaccination members have received training for COVID-19 vaccination. Currently, the government plans to use over 29,000 cold chain points, 240 walk-in coolers, 70 walk-in freezers, 45,000 ice-lined refrigerators, 41,000 deep freezers and 300 solar refrigerators for vaccine storage and transport.