Karnataka Health and Medical Education Minister Dr K Sudhakar on Tuesday said that the state has initiated necessary action for COVID-19 vaccine delivery, distribution and administration as per the Government of India's advice.
The State Task Force has also met and preparations are being made for the vaccine storage and delivery, he added.
Speaking on the measures initiated for the management of vaccine, Dr Sudhakar said that the government has identified 29,451 session sites (vaccination sites) and 10,008 vaccinators as per the norms of the Universal Immunisation Programme. Health Care Workers data has already been compiled for all the government facilities. 80 per cent of the private health facilities have also shared their data. Compilation of data for the remaining 20 per cent private facilities is likely to be completed in a week's time, he added.
Meanwhile, explaining the storage facilities in the state the Minister said that Karnataka has around 2,855 cold chain points for storage and distribution of vaccines. With a view to having a better supply chain network and distribution of vaccines in a timely manner, three new regional vaccine stores - Bengaluru Urban, Shivamogga and Bellary have been proposed. These newly proposed Regional Vaccine Stores will also require additional Walk-in-Coolers and Walk-in-Freezers to be supplied, Dr Sudhakar added.
The Minister also said that the assessment of the vaccine stores has been completed. The state has 10 Walk-in-Coolers and 4 Walk-in-Freezers.
He further said: "The Department of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India are going to supply three Walk-in-Coolers and 2 Walk-in-Freezers for which necessary civil works are being initiated. In order to have an exact assessment of the cold storage capacity required for COVID-19 vaccine programme, the number of doses in each vial, the volume of a vial, etc need to be assessed. We have already requested the Department of Health and Family Welfare to share this information."
On dry storage facility, Dr Sudhakar said that the state needs to have the dry storage space assessment for the vaccine programme.
"The Government of India has already allocated certain Deep Freezers and Ice Lined Refrigerators as per the Universal Immunisation Programme norms. We have also informed the centre of our additional requirements," he said.
Regarding the usage of mal husbandry department's facilities, the minister said that in order to have adequate capacity the cold storage facilities under the mal husbandry department are also being compiled. Further, the spare cold storage facilities available with private hospitals especially the chain hospital are also being assessed.
( With inputs from ANI )
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