Covid vaccination to start in next few days: Dr. Harsh Vardhan

COVID Vaccine, Jan 8: Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan said that Covid vaccination in India will start in the next few days. He also requested the NGOs working in the field of health to help in the smooth rollout of the process on Friday.

In the next few days, in the near future, we should be able to give these vaccines to our countrymen. It will be given to our healthcare professional followed by frontline workers. I request the NGOs working in the field of health to help in the smooth conduct of the COVID-19 vaccination program and mobilization of beneficiaries in the best possible manner” said the minister after his visit to the session site in Government General Hospital in Chennai to review the second dry run for coronavirus vaccination on Friday.

In the past year, government and social organizations, scientists, and medical practitioners showed exemplary performance in managing COVID-19 situation. India has the highest recovery rate and the lowest fatality rate. We started the journey with one testing lab and today we have around 2,300 labs in the country,” the minister added further.

He said the government has ensured that every detail regarding vaccination is conveyed to the people from the national level to the grassroots level.

On January 2, we did a dry run in almost 125 districts in the country. Today, we are doing it across the country except for the three states, which did it earlier… Lakhs of healthcare workers are being trained through these dry runs and the process to train more is still going on,” Vardhan stated.

The minister is on a visit to Tamil Nadu to oversee the dry run drill for coronavirus vaccination.

The second nationwide mock drill on the COVID-19 vaccination is being held at three-session sites of 736 districts across 33 states/UTs.

The dry run is aimed at testing the laid out mechanisms for COVID-19 vaccination roll-out in the health system. It will also help to assess operational feasibility of using Co-WIN application in a field environment for planning, implementation, and reporting at the block, district and state level.

According to the health ministry, the objective of the mock drill on COVID-19 vaccination is to simulate the actual vaccine administration event.

COVID vaccination of Serum Institute of India and Bharat Biotech has been granted permission by the Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) for restricted use in an emergency situation.