New Delhi: India is gearing up for the launch of the massive anti-COVID-19 vaccination drive on January 16 with states busy setting up the requisite logistics, including the cold chain storage facilities.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will interact with Chief Ministers on Monday to take stock of the Covid situation of their respective states.
Modi has termed it as the world's largest inoculation programme with priority to be given to nearly three crore healthcare and frontline workers.
Next in line would be those above 50 years of age and the under-50 population groups with co-morbidities, together numbering around 27 crore, according to a government statement.
Delhi Health minister Satyendar Jain said the city government has finalised 89 sites to roll out the COVID-19 vaccination drive in the national Capital. Jain added that 40 government hospitals and 49 private ones will have a vaccination site each.
The jumbo Covid care centres set up in Mumbai after the pandemic outbreak will now be transformed into mega-vaccination centres by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation, officials said recently.
Civic officials hinted that the plan is to ensure around 50,000 persons getting vaccinated daily in Mumbai, which ranks highest in the country in terms of Covid fatalities.
The Goa government has identified eight hospitals for the first phase of COVID-19 vaccination in the coastal state where around 18,000 health care workers will receive the doses, an official said on Sunday. As many as 100 vaccinations would be done at each of these eight facilities in a day, which amounts to 800 inoculations per day, state immunisation officer Dr Rajendra Borkar said.
The Mamata Banerjee government on Sunday announced that the vaccine will be free-of-cost for the entire 10 crore population of the state.
Banerjee has written an open letter, where she said Covid-19 warriors, including police, home guards, civil defence volunteers, correctional home and disaster management employees, will be administered the vaccine on a priority basis.
The state Health department has already prepared a list of 6 lakh health workers and professionals who would receive the vaccine in the first phase.
Preparations for rolling out the vaccination programme in Rajasthan have been made and around 4.5 lakh health workers will be vaccinated in the first phase, Health minister Raghu Sharma said on Sunday.
The Andhra Pradesh government is starting the drive with around 3.6 lakh health workers who will be inoculated in the first phase. The state machinery has successfully completed three dry runs of the vaccination programme so far and everything required for the actual drive has been put in place for a smooth run, Health Commissioner Katamaneni Bhaskar said on Sunday.
Nearly 11 lakh people engaged in COVID-19 duties, including healthcare and frontline personnel, will be vaccinated for Coronavirus on priority in Gujarat, Chief Minister Vijay Rupani said on Sunday, adding that 16,000 personnel have been trained for administering the shots.
Meanwhile, the Centre on Sunday said Co-WIN, an online platform for monitoring COVID-19 vaccine delivery, shall form the foundation for the anti-Coronavirus inoculation drive which shall be citizen-centric so that the vaccine is available anytime and anywhere.
As part of preparations for the nationwide rollout, the Health ministry on Sunday held a video conference with officials from states and Union Territories to discuss feedback on the Co-WIN software and its operational use gathered from the vaccination dry runs.