Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy said on Friday the Union government has promised 1 crore coronavirus vaccine shots to the state in its first phase. The state, at the moment, is framing guidelines with regard to the distribution of vaccines in the state.

Jagan told the Assembly about the Centre's promise during a discussion on the pandemic on the last day of the winter session.

He said the state will provide the vaccine to around 7 lakh frontline staff in the first phase, followed by 3.6 lakh healthcare workers and 90 lakh senior citizens.

The state is framing guidelines with regard to the distribution of vaccines and developing storage and transport facilities.

"Cold chain storage units are needed to store the vaccine between 2 - 8 degrees centigrade. So far, 4,065 units were set up, in addition to 29 refrigerated vehicles to transport the vaccine. Since the vaccination has to be done by professionals, 19,000 ANMs will be roped in and even Asha workers will be trained for additional support," the Chief Minister said.

The Chief Minister said the state government has constituted task force committees at the village, mandal and district levels to coordinate the effective implementation.

The state is also banking on its 1.34 lakh village and ward secretaries, recruited a few months before the pandemic to better the delivery of government services at the grassroots.

According to the Hindu Business Line, the state has a 4 lakh field force that can be readied for vaccine distribution, said Principal Secretary Ajay Jain, who is in charge of the functions of the secretaries and volunteers. The state has so far mapped 1.5 crore households, and a secretary or volunteer is assigned for every 50 households. The state claims to have carried out five surveys for the smooth rollout of the vaccine.

(With IANS inputs)