Vaccination drive opens for all Indians over 45

CENTRE HOLDS MEETING WITH STATES, UTS; ASKS THEM TO KEEP VACCINE WASTAGE UNDER 1% AND IDENTIFY LOW COVERAGE POCKETS

NEW DELHI: A day before all Indians above the age of 45 become eligible for coronavirus disease (Covid-19) vaccines starting Thursday, the Centre held a high-level meeting with the states and Union territories (UT) on Wednesday where it asked them to keep the Covid-19 vaccine wastage under 1% and identify low vaccine-coverage pockets, particularly in districts reporting a surge in new infections, and take corrective action.

“Maintain vaccine wastage at less than 1% (present National Wastage Percentage being 6%). Regularly review vaccine wastage across all levels to minimize the same. Ensure timely utilization of available stocks to avoid expiry of vaccines without usage. Timely updating of data of vaccine consumption to be ensured on CoWIN & eVIN portals,” the Union health ministry said in a direction to state governments.

Health secretary Rajesh Bhushan and RS Sharma, National Health Authority (NHA) CEO and Empowered Group on Covid-19 Vaccination chairperson, held the online meeting with health secretaries, state mission directors of NHA and state immunisation officers of all states to review the status, pace and issues regarding the Covid-19 vaccination across the country as well as the preparations for the expansion of the inoculations, a statement said.

“A key theme underlying the meet was the identification of low vaccine coverage pockets particularly in districts showing Covid-19 surge and for taking corrective actions there,” the ministry said.

On vaccination coverage of health care workers and frontline staff, the states and UTs were advised to ensure that only eligible beneficiaries were registered and inoculated under the respective categories. They were also advised to archive incorrect and duplicate entries on the Co-WIN platform, identify pockets of low vaccination coverage – health facility, professional association, blocks, districts – for taking corrective action, and ensure saturation of vaccination of these groups on priority.

is in the grip of a second wave of the pandemic and case and death numbers are certain to rise through April in what is clearly going to be a race between the virus and the vaccine. India’s vaccine drive has seen a slow start, relative to the size of the country and the number of people that need to be vaccinated. Part of this can be attributed to vaccine hesitancy.

The Centre assured states that there was no shortage of vaccines and no problem in its storage and logistics. It also assured that it will continually replenish the stocks based on consumption trends. “…there is no value in conserving vaccines for the second dose and that states must promptly supply vaccines to all government and private hospitals where there is a demand,” Sharma said at the meeting. The health secretary reiterated the need for involving the private sector in Covid-19 vaccine delivery in a big way. As of now, only 6,271 vaccination centres are in the private sector out of 47,441 centres offering Covid-19 vaccination across the country.

Bhushan asked states to conduct regular reviews of vaccinations at private Covid-19 Vaccination Centres (CVC) with respect to their capacity utilisation; undertake geographic information system (GIS) analysis of vaccination centres to identify need for additional vaccination centres, and also to proactively address apprehensions of private CVCs regarding vaccine supply, guidelines, etc.

India started its Covid-19 vaccination coverage on January 16, and to date has administered at least 63 million jabs. At lease 53.4 million people having received at least one dose of the vaccine. A total of 9 million people have received both doses, and 44.4 million have received only a single dose, according to government data.

Experts say immunising everyone will be the key to control the spread of the infection, which the Centre said has the potential to overwhelm India’s health care infrastructure.

“Ultimately we will need to get everyone immunized, including children,” said Dr Gagandeep Kang, one of country’s top vaccinologist.

It is going to be an uphill battle with the number of active cases crossing 500,000, indicating the severity of the second wave of infections.

Five states cumulatively account for over 79% of the total Covid-19 active cases in the country with Maharashtra alone accounting for more than 61%, the health ministry said. Apart from Maharashtra, the four other states accounting for the majority of the active cases are Karnataka, Kerala, Punjab and Chhattisgarh.

ACCOUNTING FOR THE MAJORITY OF THE ACTIVE CASES ARE KARNATAKA, KERALA, PUNJAB AND CHHATTISGARH.