Covid-19 vaccine for entire population soon: Dr Harsh Vardhan

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, January 8

Union Health and Family Welfare Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan on Friday said soon it would be a reality to vaccinate the entire population in the country against Covid-19 after prioritising risk groups.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will meet the Chief Ministers of states on Monday to discuss the Covid-19 situation and the vaccine delivery rollout plan with the Centre today conducting the second pan India dry run in 33 states and UTs across 736 districts.

Ahead of the planned vaccine administration drive, Jammu and Kashmir reported glitches in the working of the jab delivery platform apart from witnessing Internet connectivity challenges in hilly areas.

Atal Dullo, Finance and Health Commissioner for J&K, said the dry run was conducted across 60 sites in 20 districts of J&K and connectivity problems were reported from hilly districts mainly Kishtwar and some in Kashmir.

“We also witnessed some problems in the working of Co-WIN, the digital delivery platform for the vaccine. There were instances where a beneficiary registered at a particular session site was sent an SMS to report to some other site where he/she was not registered. The dry run was mostly smooth barring problems posed by poor Internet connection in remote hilly areas of the UT and registration issues with Co-WIN which the Centre said it is sorting out,” Dullo said.

Carry vaccines in dry ice packets, airlines told

As the govt prepares to roll out Covid vaccines in the country, the Director General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) on Friday asked the airlines and the airports to carry and store the vaccines in packets of dry ice.