New Delhi, Dec 19 (IANS): The National Association of Software and Service Companies (NASSCOM) has said that India should be ready with funding for the next one year for the distribution of Covid-19 vaccine.

"The funding for such large scale distribution would be huge, and India should be ready with a funding of around Rs 80,000 crore for the next one year for distribution of the Covid-19 vaccine," the trade association said in a news release on Friday.

The comment was not made by Satish D. Ravetkar, Executive Director of Serum Institute of India, but figured in a news release issued by NASSCOM post a virtual conference themed 'Vaccine Trials – Optimising the Supply Chain'.

In the webinar attended by various industry experts, Ravetkar said, "IT-enabled supply chain management should be established as at Serum Institute we produce 1.6 million doses annually, and we claim that every third child in the world is vaccinated by Serum Institute vaccines."

He added, "So, we can roll out this vaccine fast. Once we get a confirmed plan from the government, we need everybody to gear up. It will be easier for all manufacturers to plan their production and all the stakeholders in the chain can implement it."

Talking about counterfeiting, Ravetkar said, "We have experience in counterfeiting and in case of Covid-19 vaccine, this is bound to happen as there is a huge demand for it. We have to establish machinery and system to control this."

NASSCOM further said in the news release, "In the remote areas of the country, India has to ensure adequate power supply that could help maintain the temperature required to keep the vaccine safe. It is a huge challenge, and all the stakeholders have to work together to take up the challenge of such a large scale operation."