How state govts are preparing to administer Covid-19 vaccine doses: Latest developments

India’s coronavirus (Covid-19) tally is nearing the 9.9 million mark with 30,254 fresh cases and 391-related deaths added in the last 24 hours. Amid a downward trend in the active cases and surge in the number of people recovering from the disease, states and union territories (UTs) are gearing up to inoculate the people once a vaccine is approved by the central government. With first priority given to healthcare, frontline workers and those highly vulnerable to the infection, states and UTs are also ensuring that vaccines to the remaining population can be given at the earliest.

Here are the updates on how states are preparing for vaccinating their residents:

1. Haryana: Haryana health minister Anil Vij on Saturday said that the state government had written to the Centre to have public representatives including MLAs and MPs listed among the priority groups for vaccination once it begins. He added that the government was making all preparations such as building a database of priority groups, cold chain infrastructure and training of vaccinators for rolling out the Covid-19 vaccine.

2. Kerala: Chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan announced on Saturday that vaccines to combat the coronavirus disease will be given free of cost to Kerala’s population adding that the government will take care of all expenses. Vijayan also pointed out that vaccines would be first administered to the frontline health workers.

3. Telangana: As the country is gearing up for distributing the coronavirus vaccine, the Telangana government has formed committees at the state, district and mandal levels for planning and executing the distribution with first priority to high risk groups followed by other people. According to a government order, the committees would also undertake a structured review of all factors related to the preparedness and implementation of vaccines.

4. Uttar Pradesh: The BJP-led government in Uttar Pradesh has started training vaccinators for injected vaccine doses before the vaccine is available. Two batches from the state had participated in an online session ‘training-of-trainers’, which was conducted by the Union health ministry. The state will have 35,000 vaccination centres and vaccinators will record the data of people who are administered doses on an online platform.

5. Chandigarh: While the Chandigarh administration is already identifying health care workers for vaccination, residents willing to receive doses will have to register in advance on the CoWin-20 mobile app. The health department of the Union Territory would be giving doses to healthcare workers first, followed by people over 50 years of age and those having comorbidities.

6. Maharashtra: Being one of the worst hit states from Covid-19 in the country, the Maharashtra government is preparing to vaccinate over 30 million residents over three phases in six months. The first phase will be focused on administering doses to health care workers. Frontline workers would be vaccinated in the second phase while people above the age of 50 and having comorbidities will be given vaccine shots in the third and final phase.