Union Health Secretary Reviews COVID Vaccination Drive

The Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan and Dr R S Sharma, CEO, National Health Authority (NHA) and Chairperson, Empowered Group on COVID Vaccination has done a high-level meeting through video conference today with Health Secretaries, State Mission Directors of NHM and State Immunization officers of all States and UTs to review the status, pace and issues regarding COVID vaccination across the country as well as the preparations for April 2021 when vaccination  would be extended to all persons above the age of 45.

The following was advised to the States and UTs regarding the vaccination coverage of Health Care Workers (HCW)s & Front Line Workers (FLW)s:

1. Ensure that only eligible beneficiaries are registered and vaccinated under category of HCW and FLW.
2. Archive incorrect/duplicate entries on CoWIN platform.
3. Identify pockets of low vaccination coverage – health facility/professional association/blocks, districts etc., for taking corrective action.
4. Saturation of vaccination of these groups on priority.

The meeting was also Regarding the involvement of Private COVID Vaccination Centres (CVC)s, the States/UTs were asked to:

1. Conduct regular reviews of vaccinations at Private CVCs with respect to their capacity utilization.
2. Undertake GIS analysis of CVCs to identify need for additional CVCs within States/UTs.
3. Address apprehensions of Private CVCs regarding vaccine supply, guidelines etc proactively.

Considering the vaccine stocks as important part of meeting the States and UTs were advised to ensure that:

1. There is no sedimentation of vaccine stocks at any level of storage.

2. Distribution based on consumption to avoid overstocking as well as under-stocking at Cold Chain Points and CVCs.
3. Regular review of vaccine stocks and consumption is undertaken to identify gap areas and address the same.

The Centre also advised the States and UTs for the following:

1. Maintain vaccine wastage at less than 1% (present National Wastage Percentage being 6%).

2. Regularly review vaccine wastage across all levels to minimize the same.
3. Ensure timely utilization of available stocks to avoid expiry of vaccines without usage.
4. Timely updating of data of vaccine consumption to be ensured on CoWIN & eVIN portals.