Gujarat government on Saturday informed the people on the preparedness of mass vaccination for Chinese coronavirus. Addressing a press conference, Gujarat Deputy Chief Minister and Health Minister Nitin Patel said that the cold chain infrastructure to store the vaccines is ready. He also added that as many as 4 lakh doctors, healthcare workers will be given vaccine on priority basis.
He said that as per the guidelines issued by the central government, the first priority for the vaccination would be healthcare workers including doctors and nurses. Over 3.96 lakh doctors and frontline health workers fighting Covid-19 on ground in the state will be given the first shots of vaccine whenever it is made available.
He added that 47,796 vaccination centres and 15,534 teams of vaccinators have been planned for this purpose. These details will be provided at a later point in time.
In second phase of vaccination, those who are indirectly engaged in providing help and support in Covid treatment like police personnel, home guards will be covered. Following that, citizens above age of 50 years and those under 50 years of age but with comorbidities like cancer, kidney disease and heart conditions will be given priorities.
The vaccines will be procured by the central government and the cost at which they will be made available to states will be discussed. Health being a state subject, the respective state governments can decide whether to charge for vaccination to people and at what rate.
The covid vaccine requires specific temperature for storage. Hence, bulk coolers belonging to health department of Gujarat will be used in Rajkot, Gandhinagar, Ahmedabad, Surat, Vadodara and Bhavnagar. Further, 2,500-odd primary and community health centres in Gujarat have small refrigeration facilities. He also added that over and above this, the state government will procure walk-in coolers for transporting vaccines. The Centre will be giving 169 ice-lined refrigerators and 30 deep freezers.
Covid-19 vaccines are expected to be made available by January 2021.
Coronavirus in Gujarat
Gujarat has recorded as many as 2,17,333 total coronavirus positive cases in the state. Of these, 1,98,627 have recovered. As of now, 14,642 active coronavirus cases are present in state.
