Long Thread

Some thoughts regarding the 3rd Phase of #COVID19Vaccination for Age group 18-44 years.

Only Pre-registered (through COWIN or AarogyaSetu or UMANG Port) beneficiaries will be able to get vaccinated.
Walk-in registration and vaccination will NOT be allowed.

1/n

This means any person who doesn't have access to the resources to register themself cannot get vaccinated.
This will deprive a lot of destitutes / rural / slum dwelling persons.
States/Districts will need to out in place systems to ensure that they are also registered.

2/n

Now it is a three-step process

Registration

Taking Appointment for Vaccination

Vaccination

The registration for beneficiaries in the age-group started from 28 April 2021. You may be able to register yourself now.

But the next step, taking appointment.

The registered persons will NOT be able to make appointment for vaccination until vaccines are available.

4/n

And Vaccines are not going to easily available in the next 15-20 days.
This is because the manufacturer capacity is limited and as you have seen till now, even for the priority groups (HCWs, FLWs and higher age groups), vaccine supply has been erratic.

5/n

Small states (like NE states) may find it even more difficult to procure vaccine from manufacturers since their demand will be small and the manufacturers will want to focus on the bigger orders.
There will be bigger delay for these states and private hospitals to procure.

6/n

Three batches of vaccines

* The GoI supplied vaccines (free) are to be used only for Health Care Workers (HCW), Frontline Workers (FLW) and 45+ Age group.

* Vaccine procured by state to vaccinate 18-44 year age group.

* Vaccine directly purchased by Private Hospitals.

7/n

The 18-44 age group is significantly high and would put a huge financial burden on the state exchequer if they are to procure them at Rs. 400 (COVISHIELD) or Rs. 600 (COVAXIN).
And most states have pledged to give it for free, which leads to huge cost for states to bear.

8/n

States may also decide if they want to keep the lower age limit at 18 years or whether they want to set it higher like 30 years and so on.
But the portal doesn't allow for setting of additional criteria like co-morbidities.

9/n

It will be very difficult for smaller Private Hospitals to continuously get supply of the vaccine, even after it becomes available and as a result scheduling sessions for a few days in advance will become a huge task.

10/n

Private Hospitals (or Private COVID Vaccination Centres) will also have to set their price for each dose of vaccine (inclusive of everything), before they can publish their sessions in the portal.

And only once they publish, registered people can book appointments.

11/n

Now a logistical and Cold-chain problem.

As mentioned above, GoI supplied vaccines are to be used for HCW, FLW and 45+ whereas vaccines procured by the state can be used for 18-44 yr age group. The batch number of both the vaccine lots may not be the same.

12/n

This will become a logistical headache, since two session sites (at the same location) have to be created for two different sets of beneficiaries (priority & general group) since the batch number of vaccine is different for both, & even the Vaccination certificate shows it.

13/n

The cold chain management will also become a headache with the segregation of two batches of the same vaccines having to be carried out at all stages right from storage to distribution to the session site

n/n

End of thread