BS RAWAT
States and Union Territories have been instructed by the National Health Mission (NHM) to establish a robust mechanism for storage of vaccines and maintenance of the cold chain, following a report that a vaccine against Covid-19 will be introduced in the near future.

The NHM has directed all Deputy Directors of Health Services to advise their concerned staff to prepare an HSC/PHC/ district level micro plan for conducting vaccination against Covid-19 and submit it before October 15, 2020.

The Joint Secretary-NHM has also suggested that Task Force Meetings should be organised at State, District and Block level to discuss the agenda of cold chain preparedness.

According to the NHM communication, all non-functional cold chain equipment (CCE) should be repaired and made functional, the downtime for repairing the non-functional equipment should be maintained as per norms.

The distribution of CCE should be rationalised and each cold chain point (CCP) should have the required number of CCE, the readiness of site for installation of new CCE (WIC, WIF, ILR and DF) should be done beforehand, it said.

Each CCP should have two designated trained Vaccine and Cold Chain and all the concerned staff should be trained in vaccine and cold chain handling/ management. The entry of trained personnel should be entered in the Immunisation Training Management System (iTMIS), it added.