Covid vaccine: TS to launch special groups to coordinate

Formed to have an effective vaccination mechanism, these groups will oversee and coordinate administration of the vaccine

Hyderabad: As part of the initiative to have an effective vaccination mechanism for Covid-19 in place, the State health department is set to launch special groups that will oversee and coordinate the administration of the vaccine, which is expected to be made available by the Ministry of the Health and Family Welfare (MOHFW) in the coming months.

The health authorities here in coordination with other departments have already begun preparatory activities like assessment of the cold chain space and its augmentation in Telangana. The health wing is preparing the database of Health Care Workers (HCW) followed by other frontline workers and age groups, who will be amongst the first to receive the much-awaited Covid-19 vaccine.

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As activities related to introduction and administration of Covid vaccine further expands, the National Expert Group on Vaccination Administration for Covid-19 (NEGVAC), Health Ministry has recently urged the State government to set-up special groups that will be responsible for reviewing the progress of activities related to administration of the vaccine in a structured manner across all the levels.

As part of these efforts, the health department here is establishing a State Steering Committee, which will be headed by the Chief Secretary Somesh Kumar, to oversee planning and implementation of various activities and also ensure inter-departmental coordination with all the departments and mobilisation of resources.

The authorities are also setting-up a State Task Force, which will be headed by Principal Secretary, Health SAM Rizvi, for smooth implementation of various activities related to Covid vaccine introduction along with its monitoring and course-correcting in the middle of the implantation, if needed.

A special district task force to be headed by the District Collector will also be set-up to ensure overall management of the entire process of administration of the Covid vaccine in the districts.

The Secretary of MOHFW, New Delhi Rajesh Bhushan in a letter to the State Chief Secretary has advised holding meetings and taking up review of cold chain preparedness and status of database compilation of health care workers. Other activities like micro-planning, capacity building of Human Resource including training on administering the vaccine, IEC activities can be taken-up as and when guidelines are issued by the MOHFW, he added.

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