Prime Minister Narendra Modi is scheduled to interact with chief ministers of all states on January 11 to discuss the Covid-19 vaccination roll out process, his office said on Friday.

The PM will also discuss the pandemic situation in each state, it added.

This will be Modi’s first meeting with chief ministers following the recent approval of the two coronavirus vaccines for restricted emergency use by India's drug regulator.

The prime minister has spoken with state chief ministers several times following the outbreak of the pandemic in the country.

India is preparing for the roll-out of Covid-19 vaccines and the second nationwide mock drill on the drive was conducted on Friday.

The notification from the Prime Minister’s Office comes hours after Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan said soon it would be a reality to vaccinate the entire population in the country against Covid-19 after prioritising risk groups.

India, he said, has done extremely well in developing vaccines in the shortest possible time, and presently two vaccines have been given emergency use authorisation.

“In the next few days, also in the near future, we should be able to give this vaccine to our countrymen prioritising those who are at risk in the public and private sectors. The government has already made known the scheme of things,” the minister had said on Friday morning.

In a country that is vast like India with a population of 1.35 billion, everything was done smoothly and meticulously without any glitches, he said.

“We started the preparation for the impending vaccine drive against Covid four or five months ago after prime minister Narendra Modi ji constituted the national expert group for vaccination. We worked all the minute details and shared the information with those at grassroot level,” Vardhan said.

Earlier, the government used to track the vaccine in terms of the temperature it was stored.

“Now we started the new Covid platform in tracking the details of potential beneficiaries, places where they are likely to get the shots, pre and post-vaccination including giving an electronic certificate and follow it up with the second dose with detailed text messages and reminders,” the minister said.

Meanwhile, the India’s aviation regulator DGCA on Friday issued guidelines to all aircraft operators who plan to transport Covid-19 vaccines packed in dry ice to various parts of the country.

“If vaccines packed in dry ice are being transported in the passenger cabin of an aircraft, then the flight crew should be properly trained on the hazards and risks of its transportation,” it noted.

The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) said, “Adequate number of carbon dioxide detectors should be available in the cabin. Such detectors should be located at locations for timely and reliable detection of a dangerous concentration of carbon dioxide.”

“All operators while engaging in the transportation of Covid-19 vaccines packed with dry ice shall establish the maximum quantity of dry ice that can be loaded in a given cargo hold or the main deck (passenger cabin) when a passenger version is deployed for all cargo operations,” it said.

India’s drugs regulator has approved the Oxford vaccine Covishield, being manufactured by the Serum Institute, and indigenously developed Covaxin of Bharat Biotech for restricted emergency use in the country.