Although no vaccine against Covid-19 has yet been approved for emergency use in India, the Centre is in the final stage of planning for vaccine administration. The government said that a dry run for vaccine administration will be carried out in Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Gujarat and Punjab from next week. If there is some gap in the whole procedure, the dry run exercise would help the government to understand.
“This exercise will allow end-to-end mobilization and Covid-19 vaccination process testing (except for the vaccine) and verify the use of Co-WIN,” the government said. The smartphone application is Co-WIN and will be tracked online during the whole process.
In Punjab, the dry run will be conducted in the districts of Ludhiana and Shaheed Bhagat Singh Nagar.
The Drugs Controller General of India is currently reviewing the applications of Bharat Biotech, Serum Institue and Pfizer — the three vaccine-makers that have sought the nod for emergency use. The nod is likely to come by December. Vaccination is likely to start from January.
It will be voluntary to get vaccinated for Covid-19, the Union Health Ministry has said, but it will be recommended to get a full anti-coronavirus vaccine schedule. Health staff, frontline workers, persons over 50 and individuals under 50, but with co-morbidities, would be vaccinated in the first level.
