The focus would be on last mile delivery
As the world awaits a successful COVID-19 vaccine, top officials at the Centre have begun deliberating on key issues regarding its delivery and distribution across the country. In its first meeting on August 12, the National Expert Group on Vaccine Administration for COVID-19 discussed the creation of a digital infrastructure for managing vaccine inventory, and delivery mechanism, including tracking the vaccination process real-time.
Given the poor reach of healthcare in India’s remote areas, the focus would be on last mile delivery, according to the Union health ministry.
Currently, India is looking at three promising vaccine candidates—Covaxin, the inactivated vaccine candidate (a joint venture between ICMR and Bharat Biotech), the plasmid DNA vaccine by Zydus Cadila, and ChAdOx1, the Oxford vaccine that is expected to be tested by the Serum Institute of India as part of phase 3 human trials in the country.
The expert group meeting on August 12, chaired by Dr Vinod Kumar Paul, member, Niti Aayog, and co-chaired by health secretary Rajesh Bhushan, also discussed broad parameters that would guide the selection of COVID-19 vaccine candidates in the country. Inputs were sought from the standing technical sub-committee of the National Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation (NTAGI), as well.
“The group delved on the procurement mechanisms for COVID-19 vaccine, including both indigenous and international manufacturing along with guiding principles for prioritisation of population groups for vaccination,” the health ministry said in a statement.
Discussions on who should get the vaccine—healthcare workers, elderly and those with co-morbidities or the poor and under-nourished with low immunity—have been on at the highest level, Bhushan had said in July.
Independent experts have told THE WEEK that distribution of COVID-19 vaccine in the country would be a huge challenge.
