‘By P. Sarojini’
       New Delhi (CWBN)_ Prime Minister Modi said that the government is taking all necessary steps on the covid 19 vaccination process. A special committee has been formed for this operation and healthcare professionals are being trained specially for this vaccination programs. The government has already partnered with many private hospitals such as Apollo hospitals to deliver vaccines across the country. The PM pointed out to tour nation’s election system and disaster management programs and said that the delivery of vaccine will take place similar to our election process in order to ensure speedy and full access to vaccine throughout the country.
      The Prime Minister conducted a meeting on Saturday regarding the delivery and distribution of covid 19 vaccine. He reviewed the arrangements and the plans made by the officials in the vaccination process. He said that once the vaccine is available, the country will start the project immediately. The PM suggested that vaccine distribution should involve the state and UT governments and civil society organizations and a strong IT backbone will play a major role in this process to boost India’s healthcare system. The PM spoke about the importance of ‘speedy access’ to the vaccine for the full population and said that the officials should remember the ‘geographical span and diversity of the country’ while planning the logistics.
      A statement from the government said that every single step in the process will be tested rigorously before the delivery of the vaccine and the government has already planned for cold storage of vaccine doses. It also said that preparations have been made to monitor vaccination clinics and the stockpiling of ancillary equipment like syringes. The government said that a detailed blueprint for the storage, distribution and administration of the Covid vaccine is being prepared by the National Expert Group on Vaccine Administration for COVID-19 (NEGVAC) along with states and UTs as well as all relevant stakeholders.
      Health Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan said that the government has planned to vaccinate approximately 25 crore people by July 2021, considering the frontline healthcare workers in the first place. A report from Health Ministry said that active covid cases in the country declined below eight lakhs for the first time in the last 46 days. According to the Health Ministry, over 62,000 new cases are being recorded daily. However, the recovery cases are quite higher, above 70,000 daily.
      A statement said that totally three potential vaccines are in the advanced stages of development in India. Two vaccines are in Phase II and the other one, Covishield, is in Phase III which is jointly developed by the University of Oxford and pharma giant AstraZeneca.
      Last month, the advanced human trials of Covishield was started by the hospitals in Mumbai and Pune. If this trial proves successful, the vaccine will be manufactured by the Serum Institute of India (SII), the world’s largest vaccine manufacturer by volume.
      The PM also spoke about maintaining the social distancing especially during this Dasara festival. He appealed people to strictly follow the covid guidelines. Apart from this, an appeal was also made by the Health Minister Harsh Vardhan who cautioned against complacency as the number of cases begins to decline. India has so far logged more than 74 lakh covid-positive cases since the beginning of the pandemic outbreak, of which 1.13 lakh deaths are due to corona virus and around 65.2 lakh people recovered successfully.
