What are the govt’s operational guidelines for distribution of COVID-19 vaccine?

The Union Ministry of Health has sent its operational guidelines to states and Union territories for the distribution of the vaccine as and when it becomes available.

As per operational guidelines sent to states/UTs for COVID-19 vaccine distribution, The Covid-19 vaccine will be first given to health care workers (1 crore), frontline workers (2 crore), and people above 50 years (26 crore).

After this, vaccines will be given to those below 50 years of age who are suffering from a chronic critical illness (1 crore) (for a total of 30 crore people in phase-1 planning), according to the health ministry’s plan.

Latest electoral roll for Lok Sabha and Legislative Assembly elections will be used to identify population aged 50 and above. The vaccine will be introduced once training is completed at district, block and planning units.

The beneficiaries will be tracked through a digital platform called Co-WIN. All information on this platform will be updated in real-time