Central Government Issues Guidelines For Process Of COVID19 Vaccination

Mrunal Jadhav

New Delhi, December 13, 2020: The country is preparing for Covid-19 vaccination. Initially, only 100 people will be vaccinated in each session. With better vaccine availability and preparation, the number could increase up to 200. The National Expert Group on Vaccine Administration (NEGVAC) has developed detailed guidelines for this.

A special team from the Union Ministry of Health will review the 112-page guideline. According to the guidelines, the states and union territories of the country will decide the day of vaccination in their respective regions. The central government plans to vaccinate 300 million people in the next six to eight months. For this, 60 crore doses will be procured from pharmaceutical companies.

A storage facility will be made to store the vaccine at minus 2 to 8-degree Celsius temperature, informed NEGVAC Chairman Dr VK Paul. 

He further said that four vaccines in the country can be easily stored. These include vaccines from Serum Institute, Bharat Biotech, Zydus and Sputnik.

What does the guideline say?

• The guideline recommends that people in the country who need the vaccine must be given first.
• 1 crore health workers, 2 crore frontline workers will be given vaccines first. These include doctors, nurses, police, home guards, armed forces, civil defence, municipal staff, emergency management staff.
• Vaccination should also be given based on age. There should be two groups of people above 50 years and below 50 years.
• Preference should also be given to people who already have any illnesses. There are 27 crore such people in the country.
•  100 people will be vaccinated in each session. Which will include the health sector and frontline workers. However, high-risk people will also be included.
• Healthcare and frontline workers will be vaccinated at the same place.
• Various sites or mobile sites will be created for other high-risk citizens.
•  Vaccination centres may be set up in schools, community halls or tents by the state governments at their convenience.
•  Drinking water, toilets etc. will be provided in the vaccination centre.

If anyone will have any side effects, the person will be hospitalized.

After administering the vaccine, doctors and other experts will monitor each candidate for 30 minutes. If anyone notices side effects during this period, they will be rushed to the hospital.

A team of 5 members will vaccinate

•  Vaccination team will have 5 members. It will have one chief officer and four other assistants.
•  The chief officer of vaccination will be one of the doctors, nurses or pharmacists.
•  The second member will do the security work. It will check the registration and entry point.
•  The third member will check the documents.
•  The fourth and fifth members will liaise with the Ministry of Crowd Management and Health.

How will vaccinations be monitored?

•  National Expert Group will monitor at the national level.
• Two committees have been set up in the state. The first State Steering Committee has been formed. This committee will coordinate in several departments. The chairman of this committee will be the chief secretary of the state.
• The second committee will be the State Task Force. This team will manage logistics and human resources. The chairman of the committee will be the principal secretary of the state health department.
•  State control rooms will be set up in all the states. It will work 24 hours a day.
•  The District Task Force has been formed at the district level. Its chairman will be SDM or Tehsildar.

Steps taken by the government for vaccination?

• The Central Government is discussing with all the States and Union Territories.
• Teams have been set up for multi-level coordination. Coordination teams have been formed at the central level, state, district and taluka level.
• Cold chain infrastructure has been strengthened.
•  Additional vaccination specialists are being arranged by the state and central governments jointly.
•  A communication strategy has been developed to prevent or counter false news, messages about the vaccine or the vaccination process.
•  Co-Win Digital Platform has been created to provide complete information about the vaccination process, registration, date of vaccination.
•  The data of the people who will be vaccinated first from all the States and Union Territories are being uploaded on the Co-Win portal.

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