Prime Minister Narendra Modi will hold a virtual meeting with all chief ministers on Monday. The PMO stated that a meeting was held to discuss the condition of Covid-19 and the introduction of vaccination.
The Government is in the final stages of due diligence to enter into a supply arrangement with the Serum Institute of India and Bharat Biotech, which have obtained clearance for the emergency use of their vaccines. Health Minister Harsh Vardhan has announced that vaccination will begin in the next few days.
“We started the preparations almost four to five months ago to ensure that everything is done smoothly and meticulously in a country as vast as India,” Vardhan said, speaking to the mediapersons at the Government General Hospital in Chennai, on the inoculation drive.
The second nationwide mock drill on the vaccination was held on Friday at three session sites of 736 districts across 33 states and union territories.
In order to ensure that mega-inoculation procedures are in operation, the aviation regulator DGCA has provided guidance to all aircraft operators preparing to deliver Covid-19 vaccines wrapped in dry ice to different parts of the world. “All operators, when engaged in the transport of Covid-19 vaccines packed with dry ice, shall assess the maximum quantity of dry ice that can be loaded in a container.
Meanwhile, producers have said they are waiting for instructions from the Center as to how many doses can be sent to which location. “We have been in the vaccine movement business for years, and our partners have already been in place for air-freight and land transport in refrigerated trucks,” said one vaccine producer without providing further details. It has been discovered that as much as 100 million doses can be taken
Sources said that the government is negotiating prices with the Serum Institute and that its rival, Bharat Biotech, may lower the price of its candidate, Covaxin. Of the 100 million doses almost ready with the Pune-based Serum Institute, some will be used to satisfy its foreign obligations. Foreign shipments are likely to begin moving around March.
Adar Poonawalla, the person at the helm of affairs at the Serum Institute is of the view that the price of Covishield will be as low as Rs 200 per dose for the first 100 million doses that would come to India. By March, Bharat Biotech, headquartered in Hyderabad, may also have efficacy results from its Phase 3 trials. Recruitment for the trial was concluded on Thursday.
Bharat Biotech is equipped for 10 million doses of covaxin and could have another 10 million doses in the nexus.Both the vaccines can be stored in 2-8 degree Celsius temperature. The shelf life of Covishield is six months. One pack of Covishield contains 10 doses of 5 ml each and once opened the vaccine has to be used in six hours.
At a recent meeting with the Minister of Health, he pointed out a host of problems they had encountered during the dry run—Chhattisgarh pointed to network issues in tribal belts, while Telangana said it faced software problems. In the case of Jammu and Kashmir, the problem was that the accessible 2G connectivity made it difficult to use the Co-Win network, which is pushing the vaccination exercise.
