Mock drills as country prepares for roll-out
Health minister says recipients in India’s first immunisation drive to get vaccine free of cost
NEW DELHI: Shots administered in the first phase of mass immunisation drive involving 300 million people will be free of cost, Union health minister Harsh Vardhan announced on Saturday as the country prepared for the rollout of Oxford-AstraZeneca’s coronavirus vaccine that is pending final approval from the drugs regulator.
“In 1st phase of COVID19 vaccination, free vaccine shall be provided across the nation to most prioritised beneficiaries that include 1 crore health care & 2 crore frontline workers,” Vardhan tweeted on Saturday, adding that the details of the vaccination process are being finalised.
The country is gearing up to carry out the world’s largest vaccination programme, with a committee of experts recommending to the Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) on Friday that the candidate developed by University of Oxford and AstraZeneca (and manufactured in India by Serum Institute of India) be cleared.
According to the central government’s plan, 300 million people have been identified as the first priority group – health care workers, frontline workers, the elderly and people with comorbidities – to receive the vaccine shot till July this year.
On Saturday, all states and Union territories conducted drills that saw 25 health workers receive dummy vaccines at each of the centres to be used across the country in a test run ahead of the launch.
Vardhan – who visited two vaccination centres in New Delhi to review the drills – said the exercise would help build expertise “so that the upcoming vaccination drive may proceed without any glitch”.
He also called for a campaign to counter “misleading rumours” that may scare people off getting the vaccine.
“I have ample personal experience from the polio eradication campaign of 1994 about how the people of the country placed their trust in the science of the vaccine rather than the false
hoods and canards being spread by some rumour-mongers,” Vardhan, who visited GTB Hospital in Shahdara and later an urban primary health centre (UPHC) in Daryaganj, said. The Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine is India’s strongest contender for early access. Termed as the “vaccine of the world”, the candidate -- AZD1222 -- is easier to store and transport than the other vaccines approved across other countries. It can be kept at refrigerator temperatures (between 2-8°C) for up to six months, and facilitating the use of India’s vast immunisation infrastructure. Additionally, the vaccine’s primary producer, the Pune-based Serum Institute of India, has also said the company had already stockpiled 75 million doses. On ensuring that the vaccine reaches the remotest corners of the country, Vardhan said India’s cold chain infrastructure had been sufficiently upgraded to ensure last-mile delivery, and adequate supplies of syringes and other logistics had also been provided for. Saturday’s pan-India dry run was the second such exercise. The first was carried out on December 28 and 29 across eight districts in four states: Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Gujarat and Punjab.