Coronavirus Covid-19 Vaccine in India: As India gears up for a large-scale Covid-19 vaccination program to be held in the coming months, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has emphasized on seamless vaccination distribution management networks in the length and breadth of the country. The Central government has now informed the Chief Ministers that it was focusing on Electronic Vaccine Intelligence Network (eVIN) in collaboration with United Nations Development Programm to detect primary beneficiaries.

What is eVIN?

The Electronic Vaccine Intelligence Network is a tool that helps monitor cold chains’ temperatures across the country and provides real-time information of stocks of Vaccine. The indigenously developed state-of-the-art technology can be run through the smartphone App. The central government has used the robust system during the prevalent Covid-19 pandemic in order to continue essential immunization services for children and pregnant mothers in the country, the Central government said in a statement.

In August, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare said in the statement that as many as 23,507 cold chain points in 585 districts across 22 states and 2 UTs were using the eVIN technology. Over 41,420 vaccine cold chain handlers started keeping digital records on eVIN. The vaccine cold chain equipment received around 23,900 electronic temperature loggers, the statement reads.

The eVIN has the potential to be leveraged for the COVID-19 vaccine, the Central government had said. The eVIN will ensure that selected individuals for Covid-19 vaccination will not be sent back from the immunization session sites due to lack or unavailability of vaccines.

Vaccination program in states or UTs

The Central government has formed a National Expert Group of Vaccine Administration for Covid-19 (NEGVAC) as it initiated the preparations ahead of undertaking the vaccination program. The NEGVAC will act as the apex group which will guide the strategies for the introduction of vaccines, as per an Indian Express report. The anticipation is that initially there will be limited supply due to the high demand, prioritization of population to be inoculated must be done on risk assessment, Haryana government official was quoted as saying by Indian Express.