The Union health ministry has said that the drive to introduce the coronavirus vaccine will span over a year, PTI reported on Friday. It added that multiple groups will be sequentially included in the drive, starting from frontline health workers.

In a letter to the states and Union Territories, Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan suggested setting up committees to ensure better coordination and monitoring for the vaccine drive.

“The Covid-19 vaccine introduction will span over a year with multiple groups being included sequentially starting from HCWs [health care workers],” he wrote. “Therefore, it is important to create strong advisory and coordination mechanism at state and district level to guide the process of Covid-19 vaccine introduction.”

The official added that the supply of vaccines will be limited initially due to high demand, The Times of India reported. “Prioritisation of socio-demographic groups will be done for vaccination and subsequently other groups will be included for vaccination,” he said.

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Bhushan added that the states must ensure that there is minimum disruption to other health care services, including immunisation.

The official suggested that the states set up a state steering committee headed by a chief secretary, a state task force led by the principal secretary (health) or additional chief secretary, and a district task force under the leadership of the district magistrate to oversee the process.

The committees will “review preparatory activities in terms of cold chain preparedness, operational planning, strategies for state-specific challenges in terms of geographical terrain and hard-to-reach areas”, Bhushan said.

The official also emphasised on the need to monitor social media to bust misinformation related to the vaccine. “Ensure early tracking of social media and other platforms for possible misinformation and rumours around Covid-19 vaccine that could impact the community acceptance for the vaccine,” he said.

The Centre had said earlier this month that three crore frontline healthcare workers will be among the first to receive the coronavirus vaccine. It had added that the first phase of vaccinations will tentatively take place between January and July 2021.

India has not yet signed a deal for a coronavirus vaccine so it is unclear when it will be available for use in the country, despite some leaders promising it will be available from as early as January. So far, many other nations including the United States, United Kingdom, the European Union, Australia and Israel have made deals to buy millions of doses of the vaccines. Availability of the vaccine in India will be subject to approval by domestic regulators, and the Indian government agreeing to purchase them.

India’s coronavirus tally rose to 81,37,119 on Saturday as it reported 48,268 new cases in the last 24 hours. The country’s toll rose by 551 to 1,21,641. The number of active cases stood at 5,82,649, while the recoveries reached 74,32,829