Cabinet Secretary reviews measures for 'hassle-free' COVID-19 vaccine distribution

Cabinet Secretary, Rajiv Gauba chaired a meeting to review the arrangements made to ensure safe, time-bound distribution of COVID-19 vaccines across the nation. From the development of ‘CO-WIN’ portal or application to manage the coordination among stakeholders to urging states and Union Territories (UTs) to maintain a database for vulnerable people, the Cabinet Secretary noted all the measures. 

The meeting on December 1 was also attended by Chief Secretary, B V R Subrahmanyam, and Director General of Police, Dilbag Singh along with Chief Secretaries of all the States/UTs along with Financial Commissioner, Health & Medical Education Department, Principal Secretary, Home, and MD, National Health Mission.

While reviewing the arrangements, Ghuba also informed that at present, three companies are leading the race of developing a safe and efficient COVID-19 vaccine in India and are in the final stage of clinical trials. The Cabinet Secretary also informed that the vaccines will be ready to use ‘shortly’ and in, therefore, asked the state and UT authorities to determine how many people require immunisation on priority. These individuals include health workers, frontline workers, home guards, police, people above the age of 50 among others. 

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Vaccines administered against 12 disease

The Cabinet Secretary also noted that vaccines in India are being administered for 12 different diseases under the prestigious ‘Universal Immunization Programme’ (UIP), which is also one of the largest immunisation programmes in the world. This is helped India to develop a strong network of at least 28,947 chain points for storage and distribution of vaccines. Therefore, according to the official statement, the distribution of COVID-19 vaccine across the nation will be carried out in “hassle-free and time-bound manner”.

To tackle another issue of coordination around the distribution of doses, the Cabinet Secretary asked the state and UT authorities to put together a multi-level coordination mechanism through the district or block level communities. So that smooth delivery of COVID-19 vaccines is ensured in alk areas. Other arrangements such assist readiness for the installation of cold chain equipment, plans for cold chain along with dry storage spaces for vaccines, syringes and facilities of transportation at all levels. 

The Cabinet Secretary, Rajiv Ghuba also said that all the authorities involved in the process should primarily focus on reducing the impact of COVID-19 vaccination on routine immunization and thus, advised the states and UTs to identify potential vaccinators for vaccine drives. 

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Digital platform ‘CO-WIN’ for coordination

In the same meeting, it was also informed that a digital platform called ‘CO-WIN’ is already being developed for the coordination between the government and vaccine authorities. This digital portal will also be supplemented with a mobile application so that the beneficiaries can register and even receive alerts through text messages along with an electronic QR based vaccination certificate carrying all the vaccine-related information. Meanwhile, Ghuba also urged States/UTs to ensure a multi-sectoral response to the roll-out of the COVID-19 vaccines.

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