States told to estimate and strengthen cold chain for vaccine: Health secy

In all, 29,000 cold chain points, 240 walk-in coolers, 70 walk-in freezers, 45,000 ice-lined refrigerators, 41,000 deep freezers and 300 solar refrigerators are to be used

The Central government has asked the states to assess their cold chain needs in relation to the Covid-19 vaccine doses that they would receive, cautioning the need for an infrastructure push and last-mile monitoring even as the health ministry presented an estimate of its own.

“We have asked the states that if they get a certain amount of vaccine, they need to assess at their level what their cold chain requirement would be,” said Rajesh Bhushan, secretary, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, on Tuesday.

According to health ministry estimates, 29,000 cold chain points, 240 walk-in coolers, 70 walk-in freezers, 45,000 ice-lined refrigerators, 41,000 deep freezers and 300 solar refrigerators would be required as the vaccine is rolled out across the country. 

“Besides this, more equipment will be made available to the states according to their requirement,” Bhushan added.

The government has also identified 23 ministries and departments at the Central and state levels, and assigned roles for planning, implementation, social mobilisation and awareness generation. Task forces at 633 districts have also held meetings on vaccine management.

The emergency use authorisation of Covid-19 vaccines will not disturb the timeline of its roll-out for the public, since the government has already factored this in, Niti Aayog member V K Paul said. “We have factored in the time it will take. We are looking forward to a good decision soon,” he said.

The health ministry has also issued guidelines for monitoring any adverse events. Once it has received market authorisation, the vaccine will reach phase 4 of development where the manufacturer will have to ensure surveillance of any adverse reaction.

“This is an adult vaccine and these are new platforms... We have to be very responsible. Vaccines are being examined on a scientific basis and regulators will look for more than reasonable satisfaction to give an approval,” Paul said.

The subject expert committee of the Drugs Controller General of India is reviewing three vaccine candidates — Serum Institute’s Covishield vaccine developed by the University of Oxford and AstraZeneca, Bharat Biotech, and the shot developed by US pharma company Pfizer along with Germany-based BioNtech.

Paul added that while it was reassuring that the number of cases were on a decline in India, there is still the possibility of a second or third wave as witnessed in the West. “Lambi ladai hai (the fight is long),” he said.

The number of cases per million in India is low (7,178) compared to the global average of over 9,100. At 104, the deaths per million population and the case fatality rate of 1.45 per cent in India are also lower than in most big countries.