Jaipur, Dec 9 (IANS): The first phase of COVID-19 vaccination will start in 2021 to prevent such infections in the state. Preparations for this have already started, health minister Dr Raghu Sharma said on Wednesday.

In the first phase, personnel working in the government and private medical services and with the Women and Child Development Department in the state will be immunised by administering the COVID-19 vaccine. He said that the vaccination, Operation Guide was discussed in detail with the Health Department officers during a video conference organised by the Union Health Ministry on Tuesday.

Sharma said that preparations for COVID-19 vaccination have started in the state and 2,444 cold chain vaccination points have been identified in the district hospitals and community health centres. Three state-level vaccination centres have been set up at Jodhpur, Jaipur and Udaipur and seven vaccination centres at the divisional level. Besides this, District Task Force for Immunisation teams have been formed under the chairmanship of the District Collector in all the districts.

According to the Union Health Ministry guidelines, identification of the beneficiaries of the COVID-19 vaccine will be done and their necessary database will be uploaded in 'COVIN' software.

He said that Unicef, UNDP and the World Health Organisation will extend technical assistance in this campaign.