Govt Plans To Receive, Utilise 40-50 Crore COVID Vaccine Doses To Cover 20-25 Crore People By July 2021: Health Minister

Union Health Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan on Sunday (4 October) said that the government expects to receive and utilise 400-500 million doses of Covid-19 vaccine covering approximately 20-25 crore people by July 2021.

The Health Minister said this while responding to questions posed by social media users on the fourth episode of Sunday Samvaad.

On the questions of prioritising the distribution of vaccines, Dr Harsh Vardhan said that the Health Ministry is currently preparing a format in which states will submit lists of priority population groups to receive vaccine, especially health workers engaged in the management of COVID-19, the ministry said in a statement on Sunday.

The list of frontline health workers will include both government as well as private sector doctors, nurses, paramedics, sanitary staff, ASHA workers, surveillance officers and many other occupational categories who are involved in tracing, testing and treatment of patients, the minister said.

This exercise is targeted to be completed by the end of this October and the states are being closely guided to also submit details about cold chain facilities and other related infrastructure which will be required down to the block level, he said.

The Centre is also working on plans for building capacities in HR, training, supervision etc on a massive scale and roughly estimates to receive and utilise 400-500 million doses covering approximately 20-25 crore people by July 2021, the Health minister said.

He further informed that the government is also keeping an eye on immunity data with regard to COVID-19 disease while finalizing these plans.