With the COVID-19 Novel Corona Virus Pandemic raging across the world for over 9 months now, the scientists are very close to registering vaccines against this deadly Virus. Though Russia claims to have successfully registered 2 vaccines against the Virus, the medical fraternity from across the world are still divided about the efficacy of these vaccines, as they have not yet completed the Phase 3 clinical trials! Meanwhile, there are quite a few vaccine candidates which are in the most advanced level of testing and very close to moving on to the production stage. Now, the big question of how and to whom these vaccines are to be given first, has arisen! The Indian government seems to already have a plan in place and reports from sources close to the Union Health Ministry state that there are already clear plans on the Phase 1 of the vaccine administration!
Reports state that once the COVID vaccine is ready and goes into production, the first phase of administering the vaccine would happen on 30 million people, most of whom are frontline health workers! Of these 30 million people, 7 million include doctors and paramedics with the remaining being from the other frontline workers! This news was given out by Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan, in a media briefing. He also added that our country has the infrastructure in place to vaccinate 30 million people, as part of the first phase. This has been tentatively scheduled to happen between January and June, of 2021! A draft prioritisation plan has been charted by the national expert committee on vaccine administration! Bhushan added that if the currents trials stay on track, then about 30 million doses of vaccine would be available between January and June and the priority list of people would be vaccinated, successfully!
Health officials however have strongly stated that people should not let their guard down, just because a vaccine is close to being available. The testing, treating and isolation should continue intensively for some more time and all the precautions mandated as of now, have to be continued being followed. Officials state that the need for all this may reduce over time till they're not needed altogether but there is quite a long way to go for that. India has been successfully running the Universal Immunisation Programme for the past 50 years and have vaccinated over 25 million children and adults, each year! This Programme has ensured that we have over 28,000 functioning cold storages available across the country, to store and administer vaccines. The Government is also said to be engaging with private entities for delivering the vaccine to every citizen, across India. Stay tuned for updates...