Centre makes plans for nationwide vaccine distribution; asks states to wait for final policy

NEW DELHI: In the wake of governments promising free Covid vaccine in election-bound states, the Centre said India would take a national approach for vaccine distribution and financing.

The ministry of health and family welfare said the government is fine tuning the distribution plan and prioritisation policy for Covid-19 vaccine, whenever it is developed and approved by Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR). When asked about the promise of state governments in election-bound Bihar and Madhya Pradesh, Niti Aayog member (Health) Dr V K Paul said, “Vaccine scenario is a dynamic scenario because we don’t have a single vaccine… The access to vaccine will be in such a way that if the vaccine supply is not unlimited, prioritisation will be done. Overall, we can say with responsibility, resources will not be an issue in access to vaccine. What the state governments have said on free vaccine, that should be respected. But we have requested the states to wait for the final policy. A national approach for vaccine access would be followed.”

The Centre expressed concern over the number of Covid cases being reported from Kerala, West Bengal, Maharashtra, Karnataka and Delhi. Secretary (health) Rajesh Bhushan said, “About 50% of the new cases in the last 24 hours have been reported from these five states. We would be meeting the five states this week to review the preparedness.” In the last 24 hours, the most number of cases have been reported from Kerala, followed by West Bengal, Maharashtra, Karnataka and Delhi. Dr Paul said, “Delhi is witnessing its third peak. We need to be very careful in the festival time. Super spreading events are not just when we have large gatherings but even when we gather in limited numbers.”

With the air quality remaining in the “very poor” category in Delhi-NCR, the health ministry and ICMR drew a direct relation between Covid-19 mortality and pollution. ICMR director general Balram Bhargav said, “There have been confirmatory studies from Europe which indicate that pollution is a major contributor to Covid-19 mortality. Covid-19 virus particles have been found suspended in PM2.5. They are, however, not active particles.”