Coronavirus vaccine will be administered in fewer locations than originally decided, at least for the opening day, officials have said citing reason could be technical.
In Punjab, the number of vaccine sites has been reduced from 110 to 59 whereas in Assam the number has been reduced from 74 to 59.
Maharashtra health minister Rajesh Tope said, "The Centre asked us to reduce the vaccine centres. Now we have reduced it from 511 to 350. The Centre said, 'Don't be in haste'.”
This means fewer people would be vaccinated if the number of vaccination centres is decreased.
In Maharashtra, Mr Tope said 35,000 people will get vaccinated on the rollout of the vaccine rollout. While the authorities are hoping to vaccinate around 30 crore people belonging to high-risk groups within six months to achieve a critical mass of vaccinated people.
State immunisation officials and the Central representatives during a meeting held today have decided to reduce the number of sites. They also discussed how the doses will be given to hospitals operated under the Central Government like military hospitals and AIIMS, whereas the required cold supply chain has been a challenge for the delivery system, especially in rural areas.
The vaccination was scheduled to commence through government hospitals -- there were to be 4,895 sites across the country.
The Covid-19 vaccination drive will be inaugurated by PM Modi virtually on January 16 during which he is also likely to interact with a few healthcare workers through video conference.
Starting January 16, in phase one of the drive one crore health workers and two crore frontline workers including the police, civil defence personnel and sanitation workers will be administered the vaccine, 27 crore people among the high-risk groups of over the age of 50 and those with co-morbidities like diabetes, high blood pressure and liver disease, will be vaccinated after healthcare and frontline workers.
PM Modi has said the expense of the vaccination given to the healthcare and frontline workers will be taken by the government.
Both Serum Institute's Covishield and Bharat Biotech's Covaxin have to be injected in two shots to be given in a gap of 28 days.
The government has purchased 1.10 crore doses of Covishield vaccine from the Serum Institute of India and will acquire another 4.50 crore doses by April.