Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy on Tuesday directed officials to prepare an action plan on storing and distributing the COVID-19 vaccine once it is ready. Addressing a meeting with Principal Secretary (Health) Anil Kumar Singhal, Commissioner (Health) Katamaneni Bhaskar and other officials, after a video conference with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the Chief Minister asked them to obtain all relevant information on the vaccine from the companies concerned and study it. He also asked them to focus on plans to store and distribute the vaccine.
"Focus on the infrastructure facilities required for refrigeration of the vaccine," he said. Officials have been tasked to prepare an action plan on storing the vaccine at optimum temperature and transporting it to remote places at the same temperature.
They are also required to collect technical information from various companies to conduct a study, along with a review meeting in the future on vaccine-related issues.
On returning to Amaravati from Tirupati after receiving President Ram Nath Kovind, Jagan attended Modi's virtual meeting, in which he took stock of the prevailing coronavirus situation in various states. The PM discussed about the COVID-19 vaccination and to whom it should be given first, including its distribution mechanism.
Earlier in the video conference with the Prime Minister, issues like who should be given the vaccine first, the strategies to be adopted at the field level and distribution methods were discussed, the CMO release added.
By Tuesday, active cases in the southern state have dropped to 13,024, even as the total number of infections shot up to 8.63 crore.
(With agency inputs)