In the first phase of vaccination campaign, at least one crore healthcare workers and two crore frontline workers would be given the priority, Union Health Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan said in Delhi on Saturday. These workers are to be given top priority in the fight against pandemic across the country.
In a Tweet, Dr Harsh Vardhan said that the details of another 27 crore prioritised beneficiaries are to be given the vaccine shot till July are being worked out. The Minister confirmed that the vaccine will be available for free not only in Delhi, but throughout the country.
The announced comes just a day after emergency use of the Oxford AstraZeneca vaccine being mass produced at Serum Institute of Pune was cleared by an empowered committee.
The final sanction and go-ahead can be given by Drug Controller General of India (DCGI) in the near future. Once DCGI sanction is received, the vaccination process will get a major boost.
Incidentally, second dry run to check the preparedness for the mega vaccination drive is being done at present throughout the country. The health directorates are gearing up to allocate storage spaces, manpower and other relevant details for this purpose.
At present, India is the second worst affected nation in the world with a little over a crore infected people. In a step to give a further boost to vaccination, India has allowed the import and export of the vaccine without any value limitations.
Currently, a dry run of the Covid-19 vaccination is being conducted in 116 districts across 259 sites in India. The aim of the dry run is the test linkages between planning and implementation and to mark out the challenges.
This is the second dry run being conducted in the country. The first one was held on December 28 and 29 in four states: Assam, Andhra Pradesh, Punjab and Gujarat. It went off smoothly.
