Centre Issues Guidelines For India's Mega Covid Vaccination Drive: Here's All You Need To Know

Prakash Javadekar recently said that the coronavirus crisis is now ‘on its way out’ and ‘soon’ vaccines would be available in India too.

(Representative Image/ Getty)

New Delhi: The first case of coronavirus disease was reported in the Hubei province of China in December 2019, since then the disease has taken over the world killing millions of people. The contagious disease was declared as a pandemic in March 2020, by the World Health Organization (WHO). Responding to the pandemic, countries including India, took strong measures to contain the spread of Covid-19, such as increasing the testing rates, imposing lockdown, and ensuring better treatment facilities. In addition, many countries even helped in the development of the vaccine for the disease. As of December 2020, there were more than 274 vaccine candidates in different stages of development. According to the data provided by the researchers, most of the vaccines will be requiring a two-dose schedule which will be administered in two, three, or four weeks. Anticipating the availability of a Covid-19 vaccine soon, Union Minister Prakash Javadekar recently said that the coronavirus crisis is now ‘on its way out’ and ‘soon’ vaccines would be available in India too. However, the minister cautioned people against letting the guard down before antibodies are created and a second dose of the vaccine administered. “The pandemic has caused major upsets in countries across the globe. But India has been able to handle the crisis well under the leadership of Prime Minister Modi”, said Javadekar. With multiple vaccine candidates approaching the authorities for “Emergency Use Authorization”, the Central Government on Monday, issued detailed guidelines for the COVID-19 vaccination drive.

Here’s all you need to know about India’s Covid-19 massive vaccination plan:

• NEGVAC to guide on all aspects of Covid-19 vaccination drive

National Expert Group on Vaccine Administration (NEGVAC) has been specially constituted by the Central Government to guide on all aspects of COVID-19 Vaccine introduction in India. The committee is tasked to establish high-level coordination at national, state and district levels for effective cooperation and collaboration among the key departments. As many as 23 ministries/departments and numerous developmental partners will coordinate in planning for COVID-19 vaccine introduction.

• Special training of staff for the vaccination drive

As part of the massive vaccination drive, special training will be provided to all the workers involved in the process. Initially, all national and state training of trainers may be successfully conducted on virtual platforms. After that, training will be imparted at district and sub-district levels using a mix of virtual and face-to-face pieces of training. The Covid-19 vaccine will be introduced once all training is completed in the district/block/planning unit. Every effort would be made to ensure that everyone in the country has access to timely, accurate, and transparent information about the COVID-19 vaccine(s).

• Who will get the vaccine first?

After a vaccine rolls out in the market, the biggest question arises that who will get the vaccine first? As per the government SOPs, the vaccine will be first offered to the healthcare workers, frontline workers, and then to people above 50 years of age. In the second round, people under 50 years of age with associated comorbidities based on evolving pandemic situation will be preferred. In the third round, the remaining population based on the disease epidemiology and vaccine availability.

• Digital Platforms to be used for registration

In order to track the enlisted beneficiaries for vaccination and COVID-19 vaccines on a real-time basis, the government has developed the Covid-19 Vaccine Intelligence Network (Co-WIN) system for the vaccination drive. According to the SOPs, at the vaccination site, only pre-registered beneficiaries will be vaccinated in accordance with the prioritization, and there will be no provision for on-the-spot registrations.

• How will the vaccination sessions look like?

The vaccination drive will be conducted in a similar process to the elections and only 100 beneficiaries will be vaccinated in a single session. While most of the healthcare and frontline workers would be vaccinated at fixed session sites, vaccination of other high-risk populations may require outreach session sites, and mobile sites/teams. Meanwhile, the states and UTs have been given independence to specify days for vaccination.

• How the vaccination team will be constituted?

The team will constitute five members, which will include (i)- Vaccinator Officer– Doctors (MBBS/BDS), Staff Nurse, Pharmacist, ANM, LHV; anyone legally authorized to give injection may be considered as a potential vaccinator (ii)- Vaccination Officer 1: At least one person (Police, home guard, Civil Defence, NCC, NSS, NYK) who will check the registration status of the beneficiary at the entry point and ensure guarded entry to the vaccination session. (iii)- Vaccination Officer 2: is the verifier who will authenticate/verify the identification documents. (iv)- Vaccination Officer 3 & 4 are the two-support staff who will be responsible for crowd management, IEC/communication, and support to vaccinators.

• Administration to be with strict hygiene and safety precautions

According to the SOPs released by the government, infection prevention and control practices, safe injection practices, and waste disposal, will be followed during the vaccination sessions.

• Post-Va ccination health-watch

Post-vaccination, the Adverse Event Following Immunization (AEFI) surveillance system will be utilized to monitor adverse events and inform the understanding of the safety profile of the vaccines. According to sources, the reporting of AEFI through SAFEVAC is being integrated with Co-WIN software and every AEFI to be reported at the district level and further the referral mechanisms in case of any AEFI needs to be put in place.