Centre to release draft on COVID-19 vaccine distribution next week

With the likelihood of a vaccine against COVID19 being available within months the government has begun a massive exercise to map out cold chain storage facilities to ensure the vaccine is delivered quickly across the countryA national expert group is talking to public and private sector entities in the pharmaceutical sector food processing industry and agro businesses as well as food delivery startups such as Swiggy and Zomato to identify cold storages or fridges at the taluka level that can stock and distribute the vaccine sources saidA draft scheme for the vaccine distribution is likely to be released around the middle of next week they addedAt least one domestic and three foreign vaccines are likely to be available to India in the coming monthsMost of the vaccine candidates will require a cold supply chain with temperatures that can go well below zero degree Celsius down to 80 degrees Celsius though most need to be kept at between 2 and 8 degrees CelsiusSources said that majority of vaccine candidates are in liquid form except a few freezedried products They are to be administered through intramuscular injection route and requirement will be a twodose regimenThe majority of vaccine candidates would be available in multidose vials 25 10 20 and 50 doses per vialAn estimation of cold chain space needed for vaccines has been made considering 18 of the population would need to be covered within six months they said adding that both the current temperature ranges 2 to 8 degrees Celsius and 15 to 20 degrees Celsius have been considered for the scenario to account for adequate storage in either conditionThe Union health ministry has already initiated a cold chain augmentation plan to address the additional cold chain space required for the vaccineSources said there will be a temporary requirement 23 months of surge capacity for large cold storage at the state regional level to store and distribute large incoming quantities of the vaccineWhile most of the vaccine products under development require traditional cold chain temperature range 2 to 8 degrees Celsius and 15 to 20 degrees Celsius some products might require 60 to 80 degrees Celsius temperature for which support of the private sector which maintains such storage can be soughtWith multiple immunisation sessions getting planned additional support by increasing the fleet of refrigerated vans to transport vaccines will support the mega immunisation drive they saidThey added that the cold chain capacity needs to be augmented most in Uttar Pradesh Maharashtra West Bengal Rajasthan Andhra Pradesh Karnataka Gujarat Kerala Telangana and Delhi in that order Other states that need to augment cold chain capacity are Assam Jharkhand Punjab and OdishaTalukawise capacity augmentation has also been mapped and some discussions on the pricing of the vaccine have also been held and it was being debated if they are to be administered free or for a priceEarlier this week Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan said the government expects to receive and utilise 400500 million vaccine doses for COVID19 and cover approximately 2025 crore people by July 2021 The Centre has also reportedly directed states to make a robust plan for vaccine storage and distribution by October 15According to experts the safe delivery of vaccines for mass immunisation against COVID19 is a massive challenge and that the country will need to significantly ramp up its cold chain facilitiesPawanexh Kohli the founding CEO of Indias National Centre for ColdChain Development NCCD agreed that protocols will require COVID19 vaccines to be kept between 2 and 8 degrees Celsius while in transport and storage until deliveryWhile a bulk of the vaccines will be distributed through the Centres Universal Immunization Programme UIP mechanism experts also suggest that the government rope in private cold chain operatorsThe vast scale of Indias UIP is supported by more than 27000 functional cold chain points of which 750 3 per cent are located at the district level and above The rest are located below the district level according to the governments comprehensive multiyear UIP plan for 201822This includes 76000 cold chain equipment 25 million health workers and 55000 cold chain staff the plan report saidKeep scrolling to read more newsCatch up on all the latest Crime National International and Hatke news here Also download the new midday Android and iOS apps to get latest updates MidDay is now on Telegram Click here to join our channel middayinfomedialtd and stay updated with the latest newsThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever