Covid vaccination from January 16

Jubilee News Desk

The covid vaccination in India will begin from January 16, after the forthcoming harvest festivals such as Lohri, Makar Sankranti, Pongal and Magh Bihu, sources in Union Health Ministry said.

Priority is being given to the healthcare workers in the first phase and the frontline workers including policemen and municipal corporation staff will be the next for vaccination. It is estimated to be around three crore people in the country.

This will be followed by those above 50 years of age, and the under-50 population groups with co-morbidities. An estimated 27 crore people fall under this category.

The roll-out of COVID-19 vaccine will provide priority to the healthcare workers and the frontline workers who are estimated to be around 3 cr, followed by those above 50 years of age and the under-50 population groups with co-morbidities numbering around 27 crore.

The Prime Minister in a review meeting was also apprised about the Co-WIN Vaccine Delivery Management System. The unique digital platform will provide real time information of vaccine stocks, their storage temperature and individualized tracking of beneficiaries of the COVID-19 vaccine.

This platform will assist the program managers across all levels through automated session allocation for preregistered beneficiaries, their verification and for generating a digital certificate upon successful completion of the vaccine schedule. More than 79 lakh beneficiaries have been already registered on the platform.

As the vaccinators and vaccine administrators comprise a crucial pillar of the vaccination exercise, their training process was detailed out. 2,360 participants were trained during national level Training of Trainers which comprised state immunization officers, cold chain officers, IEC officials, development partners etc. More than 61,000 programme managers, 2 lakh vaccinators and 3.7 lakh other vaccination team members have been trained so far as part of trainings at States, Districts and Block levels.
The Prime Minister was also apprised on the three phases of dry runs having been conducted across the country. The third dry run was conducted yesterday across 615 districts covering 4895 session sites in 33 States/UTs.

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After the detailed review, it was decided that in view of the forthcoming festivals including Lohri, Makar Sankranti, Pongal, Magh Bihu etc., the COVID19 vaccination will start from 16th January.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, while addressing the Pravasi Bharatiya Divas said India was ready to save humanity by providing doses of the two Indian-manufactured vaccines that have been cleared for emergency use, Covishield and Covaxin, to the rest of the world.

The Centre has started a new COVID platform to track particulars of potential vaccine beneficiaries and also issue electronic certificates to them.