Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday is set to interact with chief ministers of all states via video conferencing to discuss the COVID-19 situation and coronavirus vaccine rollout. Taking to Twitter, the prime minister’s office said, “At 4 PM on Monday 11th January, PM Narendra Modi will interact with Chief Ministers of all states via video conferencing. They will discuss the COVID-19 situation and the vaccination rollout.”Days after COVID-19 vaccines of Serum Institute of India and Bharat Biotech were been granted permission for restricted use in an emergency situation by the Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI), the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has announced that the coronavirus vaccination drive in the country will start from January 16.The prime minister had earlier chaired several meetings with chief ministers in this regard.On January 9, he had chaired a high-level meeting to review the status of COVID-19 in the country along with the preparedness of the State/Union Territories for COVID vaccination.The roll-out of the COVID-19 vaccine will provide priority to the healthcare workers and the frontline workers who are estimated to be around 3 crores, followed by those above 50 years of age and the under-50 population groups with co-morbidities numbering around 27 crores.India’s coronavirus tally on Sunday reached 1,04,50,284 including 2,23,335 active cases while the death toll climbed to 1,50,999.Vaccine transport from SII to start on Jan 11 or 12: SourcesWith the COVID-19 vaccination drive in India set to roll out on January 16, the transportation of Covishield vaccine from the Serum Institute of India’s facility in Pune in Maharashtra is likely to start from the evening of January 11 or on January 12, sources involved in planning the logistics said on Sunday. The vaccine-laden trucks will move out from the Manjari location of the SII with elaborate police security.”With all likelihood, there are possibilities that the transportation of the Covishield vaccine will start from Monday. Tentatively, there are plans to start the movement of the vaccine on Monday, but if that does not happen for some reason, it will definitely start from Tuesday morning,” said the sources involved in the planning for security and logistics for transportation of the vaccine.Covishield is co-developed by the University of Oxford and British-Swedish company AstraZeneca in collaboration with the SII.
