Prime Minister Narendra Modi is set to launch the pan India rollout of Covid-19 vaccination drive on 16 January at 10:30 am via video conferencing, the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) informed on Thursday.
This will be the world’s largest vaccination program covering the entire length and breadth of the country, PMO said. “A total of 3006 session sites across all States and UTs will be virtually connected during the launch. Around 100 beneficiaries will be vaccinated at each session site on an inaugural day,” the PMO added.
It said this vaccination programme is based on the principles of priority groups to be vaccinated and Health Care workers, both in government and private sectors including ICDS workers, will receive the vaccine during this phase.
“The vaccination programme will use Co-WIN, an online digital platform developed by Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, which will facilitate real-time information of vaccine stocks, storage temperature and individualized tracking of beneficiaries for Covid-19 vaccine. This digital platform will assist programme managers across all levels while conducting vaccination sessions,” PMO stated.
A dedicated 24×7 call centre—1075—has also been established for addressing the queries related to the pandemic, vaccine rollout and the Co-WIN software.
“Adequate doses of both COVISHIELD and COVAXIN have already been delivered across the country to all States/UTs with the active support of the Ministry of Civil Aviation. These have been further delivered by the State/UT governments to the districts. All preparations are in place to initiate the programme on the principles of Jan Bhagidari,” PMO further said.
In the meantime, the Centre on Thursday circulated the dos and don’ts for vaccination to the states this evening. The rollout on Saturday is expected to cover 3 lakh healthcare workers across 3,006 sites across the country.
Vaccination is allowed only for those who are above the age of 18 years, the Centre said. Women who are pregnant or not sure of their pregnancy and lactating mothers should not receive the vaccine.
The Centre also said that interchangeability of vaccine is not permitted. The second dose of the vaccine should also be of the one that was administered as first dose.
Both vaccines cleared by the country’s drug regulator—Serum Institute’s Covishield and Bharat Biotech’s Covaxin—are two-dose vaccines which have to be administered at a 28-day gap.
Vaccination will have to be deferred for four to eight weeks after recovery of patients with active Covid symptoms, those who have been given plasma therapy, and those who are unwell and hospitalized for any other reason.