New Delhi: The pan-India vaccination drive against novel coronavirus will begin from January 16 after the upcoming festivals, including Lohri, Makar Sankranti, Pongal and Magh Bihu.
Union Health Ministry made the announcement following a high-level meeting on Saturday chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to assess the status of COVID-19 in the country along with the preparedness of states and union territories for vaccination.
The first phase of COVID-19 vaccination will inoculate 30 crore people from priority groups. This includes 3 crore healthcare and frontline workers, along with 27 crore people above 50 years of age and the under-50 population groups with co-morbidities.
India has approved two COVID-19 vaccines – Oxford-AstraZeneca’s Covishield and Bharat Biotech’s Covaxin – for emergency use.
PM Modi was also apprised about the status of Co-WIN Vaccine Delivery Management System. The vaccination digital platform will provide real time information of vaccine stocks, their storage temperature and individualised tracking of beneficiaries of the COVID-19 vaccine.
The Co-WIN platform has been built to assist programme managers across all levels through automated session allocation for pre-registered beneficiaries, their verification and for generating a digital certificate upon successful completion of the vaccine schedule.
More than 79 lakh beneficiaries have been already registered on the platform.