Centre's vaccination plan unveiled; each Covid-19 shot to take 30 minutes: Report

100 individuals will be administered the vaccine during each session at a vaccination centre

While pharmaceutical companies still await regulatory approvals from the Drug Controller General of India (DCGI) for their vaccine candidates, high-level experts in charge of the vaccination drives are finalising details of the massive inoculation drive.

According to a report by The Indian Express, an expert committee on Covid-19 vaccination at the national level has prepared the fine logistical details for the vaccination drive after "97 per cent of government health facilities and 70 per cent of private facilities" submitted data about priority groups to be vaccinated.

Government sources in the know told the publication that every vaccination centre will have three separate rooms. “In the first room, the beneficiary will have to wait; the second room is where the actual vaccine administration will take place; and finally, they will be directed to the observation room, where they will have to sit for 30 minutes to monitor if any adverse reactions occur during this period,” one source was quoted as saying in the report. This means that the vaccine is being administered keeping in mind the likelihood of an adverse event.

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Data on healthcare workers are in the process of being uploaded on the CoWin platform, collected from the state governments in Excel sheets. After being uploaded, the data will be verified, certified at the state level and then become available to the Centre for examination, the report cited.

Only 100 individuals will be administered the vaccine in each session per vaccination centre because administering each shot will take over 30 minutes. “The CoWin IT system allows vaccination sessions to be created, and vaccination sites to be fixed. Once that is done, each vaccination session will be for 100 vaccinations. After 30 minutes, the vaccinators will report the adverse event, if any, on the digital platform,” the publication cited, quoting one of the sources.

The committee has also asked states to have a wide reporting network of Adverse Event Following Immunisation (AEFI) surveillance.

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There will be an AEFI register at all levels, and district immunisation officers will help private and government health workers in understanding the AEFI reporting. These officers will hold sensitization meeting with doctors in public and private hospitals and demonstrate to them how to record patients’ vaccination history and any casualties. The AEFI register will contain data like if the adverse events were minor, serious or severe after the vaccination.

Bharat Biotech on Monday applied to the central drug regulator seeking emergency use authorization for its Covid-19 vaccine Covaxin. Pharmaceutical giant Pfizer became the first company to apply for an Emergency Use Authorisation (EAU) for its Covid-19 vaccine in India on December 6.