Ahead of fresh round of COVID-19 vaccination from May 1, the centre has asked states to consider setting up field hospitals with help from government research agencies or the private sector for ‘“effective implementation of the New Vaccination Strategy”. All adults will become eligible for a Covid-19 vaccine and doses can be sold via the market from May 1 in the government’s latest inoculation drive. The centre has asked states to register additional private vaccination centres and ensure effective crowd management at sites and stressed on inoculation through “only online registration” for beneficiaries in the age bracket.
Chairing a high-level meeting on Saturday with officials of states and UTs, Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan shared a roadmap for effective implementation of the new vaccination strategy
“The CoWIN platform has now stabilised and is working at scale flawlessly. It is equipped to handle the complexities of the new phase of vaccination starting from May 1,” said Dr RS Sharma, chairman of the empowered group on technology and data management on COVID-19.
They have also been asked to monitor the number of hospitals that have procured vaccines and have declared stocks and prices on COWIN portal and schedule vaccination for eligible population for providing adequate visibility of vaccination slots on COWIN, the ministry said. The states and UTs were asked to prioritise decision on direct procurement of vaccines by State/UT Government and publicising about facility of ‘only online registration’ for the 18-45 age group.
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They were also asked to train vaccination centre staff about vaccination, adverse event following immunisation reporting and management, use of COWIN and to coordinate with law-and-order authorities for effective crowd management at sites.
On infrastructure augmentation for effective clinical treatment of the hospitalised COVID-19 patients, the states and UTs were advised to review their existing hospital and other treatment infrastructure in light of the daily new case, daily fatality and those that would require hospitalisation.
