Focus: GS-II Governance
Why in news?
An expert committee on Vaccine Administration for COVID-19 has advised states not to procure Covid-19 vaccines on their own and said that domestic production capacity and supplies through Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, would be sufficient for India.
Details
- The Committee said that there will be a unified mechanism to procure vaccines and states have been advised against following independent mechanisms.
- The committee noted that India has a significant domestic production capacity, which could also help to meet the requirements of other countries.
- India is assuming a leadership position and given the capacities that India has, that position should be leveraged for other middle- and lowincome countries, too.
- The government is confident that it can manage with its indigenous production capacity and the mechanism hosted by Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance.
- The Gavi facility will buy vaccines approved by regulatory agencies and/or prequalified by the WHO and will initially provide doses for 20% of the population in 92 lowand middle-income countries.
Concerns being addressed
- The panel also deliberated on the creation of digital infrastructure for inventory management and delivery mechanism for the vaccine, including tracking of the vaccination process with focus on last-mile delivery.
- The committee discussed the broad parameters for selection of Covid-19 vaccine candidates for the country and sought inputs from the standing technical sub-committee of national technical advisory group on immunization
- The expert group discussed the financial resources required to procure the vaccines and funding options.
- The availability of delivery platforms, cold chain and associated infrastructure for the rollout of Covid-19 vaccination was also taken up, as were issues related to safety and surveillance.
- The committee will next meet officials from companies that are leading vaccine development in India.
Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunizations (GAVI)
- GAVI was created in 2000 as a successor to the Children’s Vaccine Initiative, which had been launched in 1990.
- GAVI is Headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland.
- The GAVI Alliance (formerly the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunisation) is a global health partnership of public and private sector organizations dedicated to “immunisation for all”.
- GAVI’s strategy supports its mission to save children’s lives and protect people’s health by increasing access to immunisation in poor countries.
-Source: Economic Times
