After much anticipation and waiting, the government has finally rolled out the first phase of its national immunisation campaign, touted to be the biggest vaccination drive of the world. Once completed successfully, this inoculation programme will be an example for all other highly populated countries of the world that have a limited public health infrastructure and face logistical challenges in distributing vaccines.
While neighbouring countries are already looking towards India for the supply of the Covid-19 vaccine, the international community will be closely watching its mass immunisation programme.
In its final phase of preparation towards rolling out the vaccines, the government, in collaboration with the Serum Institute of India (SII), has sent out the first batch of vaccines to 60 different places in the country by airways and road transport. The vaccine lots were escorted by security personnel, transported carefully in refrigerated trucks and private airplanes of the domestic circuit on January 12.
After initial hitches in the supply deal was ironed out earlier this week, the SII sent out the vaccines to predetermined government distribution points. The vaccines were then distributed to hospitals and health centres identified as vaccination centres across the country. This decentralised logistic model has been successful in supplying a large number of vaccines across the country in a very short period of time to various vaccination points in major cities and the hinterland.
With more than 10.5 million Covid-19 infections recorded till date, the Indian government faces the herculean task of vaccinating a massive population of 1.3 billion people who reside in varied terrain and remote corners of a country that is home to a highly complex society.
The public health infrastructure in India was pushed to its limits during the pandemic and the mission of mass vaccination will be an acid test of the government’s reach and efficiency in providing healthcare to all citizens of the nation. As India has bravely survived the worst phase of the pandemic, both the public and the government are hopeful that the vaccination campaign will without any major setback along the way.
The government has placed an order of 11 million Covid-19 vaccine shots with the SII at a price of Rs 200 for each shot. The first batch of these shots will reach the different vaccination points by today (January 14).
The government has chosen four main distribution points for the Covishield vaccine. The cities of Karnal, Kolkata, Chennai and Mumbai have been strategically chosen as the main distribution points, so that the vaccines can reach all the regions of the country. To support the mass distribution of vaccines, the government has identified and upgraded 37 state vaccine storage areas in the country to store the vaccines under optimal storage conditions.
The government has planned to inoculate 300 million citizens by the end of August this year, with priority given to frontline workers, senior citizens, and people with underlying comorbidities.
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