Panaji, District Collectors have been directed to collect data from public and private health facilities related to health workers, as the Goa administration on Wednesday kick-started preparatory efforts ahead of the proposed national Covid-19 vaccination programme roll out.

Chief Secretary Parimal Rai on Wednesday chaired the first meeting of the state level steering committee, which was attended by top bureaucrats, health experts and members of civil society including presidents of Global Rotary International, Lions Club, among others.

"Collectors were tasked to coordinate data collection and they have collected the data of public health facilities and the health workers, and they are on the job to collect data on private medical facilities and their health workers, for being uploaded on the portal," an official statement issued by the Goa government said.

"Simultaneously, data collection and entry is ongoing within respect to other requirements such as cold chain maintenance and storage facilities, transport of vaccine, syringes availability, adequate and suitable vaccine administration personnel, location for vaccination while respecting the cold chain, etc," the statement said.

As per Government of India guidelines, first priority for the vaccination programme would be allotted to healthcare workers from the government and private sectors, frontline workers including police, armed forces, home guards, civil defence officials, disaster management volunteers, municipal staff, etc.

The Chief Secretary also said that the state administration was also directed to strengthen the existing cold chain management in order to "ensure safe delivery of vaccines to the remotest areas for administering to the targeted population well in time".