COVID vaccination to start with nationwide inoculation of healthcare workers: National COVID Task Force

India is all set to roll out its vaccination drive against the coronavirus that has killed nearly 1.50 lakh Indians in less than a year.

The Subject Expert Committee (SEC) is reviewing applications for emergency use authorisation of three vaccine candidates- these include Serum Institute's Covishield, which is the vaccine developed by Oxford University & Astrazenca, Bharat Biotech indigenous vaccine candidate and Pfizer & BioNTech's vaccine, which has already been cleared by the UK, the US and the WHO.

However, as green light awaits, the government has accelerated its vaccine rollout efforts. Sources told CNBC-TV18 that over 70 lakh health workers have registered on the COVID-19 Vaccine Intelligence Network (COVIN) platform, as the beneficiaries in the first phase.

Around 2.5 lakh vaccinators and over 51,000 public health facilities have been identified for the drive. Centre has also asked states to identify specific days when they want to conduct vaccination.

Meanwhile, all states and union territories are set to conduct a dry run tomorrow. The nationwide drill is to test the mechanisms and reveal possible gaps in the system ahead of the actual exercise.

Union health minister Harsh Vardhan said preparations are on at "a war footing".

In an exclusive interview to CNBC-TV18's Shereen Bhan, Dr. Vinod Paul, head of National COVID Task Force, said, "India has decided that it will pitch for covering 300 million individuals based on prioritisation process, which is in the public domain."

He said, "Once a licensure is provided and we know that stockpiles are available with the companies, this will be then taken to the vaccination points through our 31 main hubs and then ready to use vaccine is made available at those points. From there it is picked up by the state governments and taken to districts and further downstream as required."

"Once a licensure is granted, India's immediate phase starts with vaccinating the health workers in all the states. The other groups that we have prioritised that work is also in very advanced stages of preparedness", Paul said.