Govt begins micro-planning for administering Covid-19 vaccine to the masses

Centre has asked states to update databases, train manpower, indicate resource requirements

India has started micro-level planning for Covid-19 vaccine administration to its population. From cold-chain assessment to augmentation plans, and manpower assessment to recruitment plans — the Centre has asked states to set the ball rolling. 

States have been asked to start training manpower and purchase cold-chain equipment. States have been asked to check wherever cold-chain equipment needs to be repaired.  

They have to start training vaccine and cold-chain handlers, develop a mobile app-based supervision system, and identify locations where new cold-chain equipment can be installed. Also, frontline health care workers, people with co-morbidities and those above 60 years have to be identified.

This would help the Centre to prioritise vaccine administration. As such, the government has decided that an antibody screening would be done at dedicated vaccination sites before someone is given a shot. 

“We are in the process of projecting the augmentation needs of our cold-chain equipment. We know capacity needs to be augmented. Exact augmentation needs and their financial implications are being worked out,” said a senior government official in New Delhi. He said while India already has trained vaccinators, there would be need for more to administer the Covid-19 vaccine.

“We are developing content that would be put up on digital platforms and would be used not only for training but also for recording adverse events that may happen after the vaccine shot is given,” the official said. 

States have database on co-morbidities that are generated through non-communicable disease (NCD) screenings done by health and wellness centres. “This is an already digitised database, and the states can now update this,” he said. 

All people related to vaccine administration — programme managers as well as vaccine and cold-chain handlers — would be trained, according to a standard protocol. The list of trained personnel would be entered into the immunisation training management system (iTMIS). 

A senior official in Delhi said the health ministry has been conducting routine immunisation and has mechanism like e-VIN to track vaccine and the cold chain. 

“There is a feature called temperature tracker which is installed in all such inventories where cold-chain equipment is available. It tracks temperature at which the vaccine is stored on a real-time basis and uploads it directly to the central server. The server generates alerts wherever the temperature either falls or rises,” said the official. 

Sources said cold-chain infrastructure needs to be updated in states like Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, and Rajasthan. Tamil Nadu, for example, is quite confident with its resources and sources in the state government said that they have been successfully conducting vaccination drives in remote areas, too.

Vaccine makers, who already deal with cold-chain logistics due to the nature of their products, felt a hub-and-spoke cold chain model may be developed. Mahima Datla, managing director of Biological E, said: “At a manufacturers’ level, we can carry two to three months inventory. To deliver to the end-mile, the cold chain has to be at the endpoint.”