The Jammu and Kashmir Lieutenant Governor’s administration has begun advance planning for COVID-19 vaccine roll-out in the union territory, officials said on Friday.

The development comes days after Prime Minister Narendra Modi held a series of meetings with Chief Ministers of states followed by an all-party meeting over the distribution plan of the vaccine.

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As per the officials, Deputy commissioners have been asked to prepare district-wise micro-plans for vaccination sites, cold chain storage points and logistics requirements by December 7.

Financial Commissioner, Health and Medical Education, Atul Dulloo, said preparations are in full swing to ensure all measures are put in place.

The preparatory planning is on for the roll-out of COVID-19 vaccination for a hassle-free and time-bound delivery of the vaccine across the Union Territory, he said.

In this direction, Chief Secretary B V R Subrahmanyam on Friday chaired a marathon meeting with deputy commissioners of all districts along with their chief medical officers.

In the meeting, it was informed that COVID-19 vaccines candidates are currently in the third phase of clinical trials, an official spokesman said.

It was also conveyed that to effectively deliver the vaccines at the grassroots level, all districts must undertake detailed micro-planning with regard to vaccination sites, cold chain storage points, and logistics requirements, he said.

Officials of the health department said that the database of prioritised groups of beneficiaries was being compiled. Healthcare workers, both in government and private establishments, and frontline workers, including armed forces, home guards, police, volunteers and municipal workers, will be administered the vaccine in its initial stages.

The next group that could be taken up for vaccination would comprise persons above the age of 50 years, followed by those with co-morbidities and then the remaining population, they said.

Further, it was informed that to carry out a dedicated COVID-19 vaccination drive, around 4,500 vaccinators are being identified across the UT with a capacity of administering 100 vaccines per site per day – cumulating to an impressive capacity to deliver 4.5 lakh vaccines a day, the officials said.

Regarding the human resource requirement at each vaccination site, the CS asked the health department and the district administrations to depute two trained vaccinators, a data operator, a record keeper, and three volunteers per site to ensure a well-coordinated and accessible vaccination drive.

Yesterday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had said that Indian scientists are very confident about Covid-19 vaccine which would be ‘ready in a few weeks’ asserting that India’s vaccination plan would begin as soon as scientists give a go-ahead in the virtual all-party meet on Friday.

PM Modi during the meeting which has been attended by about 12 leaders from various political parties said, “Experts expect that the vaccine will be ready within next few weeks itself. Once scientists approve it, the nation-wide Vaccination drive will be started in India.”

“Our scientists are very confident of succeeding in their endeavour of making COVID-19 vaccine. The world is keeping a watch on the cheapest and safe vaccine.” he further added.

(With inputs from PTI)