Maharashtra Health Minister Rajesh Tope on Saturday informed that the state is ready for corona vaccination. The dry run exercise for the much-anticipated coronavirus vaccination programme kicked off today.
The health minister had reviewed the dry run of administering the COVID-19 vaccine in Jalna. While interating with the press here, the minister said the state is ready to give the vaccine manufactured by Serum Institute of India and it needs the approval of Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI). Tope said the administration is ready for vaccination if it gets permission.
The design of the vaccination center will be similar to that of a polling station, Tope said. 'When we go to the polling station, our first meeting is with the police. There will also be police at the vaccination centre. They will check the identity card. Identity card will be mandatory to enter the vaccination centre. After showing the identity card to the police, the person concerned will go to the identification room. The person to whom the message has been sent for vaccination, will be verified by the authorities through the COWIN app, 'said Tope.
"People must keep in mind that getting vaccinated does not mean they are immune to the coronavirus and they can discard Covid protocols. They will still have to adhere to face masks, sanitising, cleanliness, physical distancing norms etc, as usual," Tope asserted. This is more so because the virus has already mutated and can come in new strains, experts fear.
On the issue of whether the people will get the Covax free or shall be charged for it, the minister said that will be decided by the Centre and the state is acting as "the implementation agency" for the entire drive.
Maharashtra is presently having the highest number of Covid-19 deaths and cases, with Pune emerging as the country's worst hotspot.