Covid 19 vaccination drive will kick off on Jan 16 in India

New Delhi: The much-awaited coronavirus vaccination drive will kick off on January 16 said the Union Health Ministry on Saturday.

The roll-out of Covid-19 vaccine will give priority to the healthcare and frontline workers who are estimated to be around 3 crore, followed by those above 50 years of age and the under-50 population groups with comorbidities numbering around 27 crore.

On January 3, two vaccines - Bharat Biotech's Covaxin and Oxford-AstraZeneca's Covishield manufactured by Serum Institute of India - were approved for restricted emergency use.

Earlier on Saturday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi chaired a high-level meeting to review the status of Covid-19 in the country along with the preparedness of the states and UTs for the vaccination drive.

The Prime Minister was also apprised about the Co-WIN vaccine delivery management system. The unique digital platform will provide real time information of vaccine stocks, their storage temperature and individualised tracking of the beneficiaries of the Covid-19 vaccine.

This platform will assist the programme managers across all levels through automated session allocation for pre-registered beneficiaries, their verification and for generating a digital certificate upon successful completion of the vaccine schedule. More than 79 lakh beneficiaries have been already registered on the platform.

The Prime Minister was also apprised on the three phases of dry runs which have been conducted across the country. The third dry run was conducted on Friday across 615 districts covering 4,895 sites in 33 states and UTs.

(From IANS with edits)