1. Central government has formed the National Expert Group on Vaccine Administration of Covid-19 (NEGAVAC) to prepare the rollout of Covid-19 vaccine upon arrival.
2. NEGAVAC has recommended three groups who should be simultaneously vaccinated on priority depending on the availability of a vaccine.
3. The three groups include 1 crore healthcare workers, two crore frontline workers including the police and armed forces, and about 27 crore people above the age of 50 years and those less than 50 years with associate comorbidities.
4. India has around 2.3 lakh trained vaccinators across the country but only 1.54 lakh vaccinators will be utilised for the vaccination.
5. Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan told The Indian Express, “We believe that in the initial phase, maybe in the first month, the vaccine arrival will be limited. However, in subsequent months, it will increase. Therefore, all the different priority groups can be vaccinated together.”
