Govt Releases Detailed Guidelines For Its Mass Vaccination Drive Against COVID-19

The government on Monday (14 December) put out the detailed guidelines based on which it will soon begin mass COVID-19 vaccination drive after the frontrunner vaccine candidates receive necessary regulatory go-ahead, reports Times of India.

The guidelines state that 100-200 people will be vaccinated during each session per day at a site, and those who will be administered the vaccine will be monitored for 30 minutes after administering the shots to check for any adverse event.

The vaccination team will comprise of five members at each site. one more vaccinator officer will be added only if the session site would have adequate logistics and space available for waiting room and observation room along with arrangement for crowd management. Addition of one more vaccinator would increase the number of people that can be administered the vaccine.

Other than these, the government will be using its indigenously developed COVID Vaccine Intelligence Network (Co-Vin) software platform to track the enlisted beneficiaries on a real-time basis.

The intended beneficiaries will have to pre-register themselves on the platform using their photo-identity documents including Voted ID, Aadhaar card, driving license, passport and pension documents. There shall be no on-the-spot registration of individuals.

As per the guidelines, the states have been asked to allocate the vaccines from only one manufacturer to a particular district to avoid any mixing of different vaccines in the field.

Also, all measures will have to be taken to avoid exposing the vaccine carrier, vials or the ice packs to sunlight. For this, vaccines and diluents will be kept inside a vaccine carrier device with its lid closed until a beneficiary would come to the centre.