Preparations underway at Delhi's Rajiv Gandhi Super Specialist Hospital to store COVID-19 vaccine
Dec 23, 2020
By Amit Pandey
New Delhi [India], December 23 : From installing freezers to cold chain equipment set up, arrangements are being made at the Delhi government's Rajiv Gandhi Super Speciality Hospital (RGSSH) for storing COVID-19 vaccine.
As of Wednesday, over 100 freezers were brought to the hospital, said Dr. Chhavi Gupta, RGSSH spokesperson.
"The equipment for vaccine storage is coming to the hospital. We are in the process of installing and keeping them in our hospital building. Over 100 freezers have arrived here. We are operating at 2 to 8 degrees celsius. We are ready to store the COVID-19 vaccine," Dr. Gupta told ANI.
"These freezers are having the quality of producing beep sound if the temperature goes beyond 8 degrees celsius. The ground and first floors of the utility block, measuring about 4,700 sq ft, will be used for the storage facility. A dedicated staff will be there to monitor the functioning of these freezers," she added.
On December 15, Union Health Ministry stated that guidelines for estimation of cold chain equipment have been issued to all states and they have received at least 240 walk-in coolers, 70 walk-in freezers, 45,000 ice-lined refrigerators, 41,000 deep freezers, and 300 solar refrigerators for COVID-19 vaccination.
Union Health Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan had said that India may begin vaccinating people against COVID-19 from January and the government's first priority has been the safety and efficacy of the vaccine.
According to the Health Ministry, there are nine COVID-19 vaccine candidates in different phases of clinical trials in India -- six are under clinical trials, and three in the pre-clinical phase.
Delhi reported 871 new COVID-19 cases, 1,585 recoveries, and 18 deaths in the last 24 hours, as per Delhi Health Department/ The total cases in the national capital stand at 6,19,618 including 6,01,268 recoveries, 10,347 deaths, and 8,003 active cases.
