SHILLONG, Jan 6: The COVID-19 vaccines, to be rolled out by the central government, are not arriving in Meghalaya anytime soon.
Officials said the government has just approved the vaccines for emergency use and they will be brought from factories to satellite godowns.
“The vaccines will have to be first brought to Guwahati by flights and from there to the state. So, it will take some time,” they said.
The Centre has planned another mock vaccination drive on Friday. The Health Ministry said this will ensure efficient planning and management for delivery of vaccines in each district of all states and Union Territories.
Each district will identify three types of session sites – similar to the earlier dry run – including a public health facility, private health facility and rural or urban outreach sites.
As of now, two COVID vaccines have been given emergency use authorisation by the Drugs Controller General of India. To facilitate the entire vaccination process, the Co-WIN software has been developed by the Health Ministry for real time information of vaccine stocks, their storage temperature and individualized tracking of beneficiaries for the vaccines. The software will assist the programme managers across all levels in the conduct of the vaccination sessions.
A dedicated 24×7 call centre has also been established for technical queries of Co-WIN users. The cold chain infrastructure along with sufficient supplies of syringes and other logistics have been ensured to begin the vaccination drive.
Around 1.7 lakh vaccinators and 3 lakh vaccination team members have been trained on the process to be followed at the vaccination sites.