Telangana Government Is Ready To Launch The 'Vaccine Through Drone' Project

The central and state governments are now looking at the possibility of distribution of the Covid-19 vaccine via drones. The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) has invited bids from companies for this project. The government is taking these steps for vaccine delivery in areas where it is difficult to distribute through routine methods. The Telangana government has launched a drone delivery project for medical supplies to find out the performance of the system. The Telangana government has announced that Flipkart and Dunjo said they will help with this project. They will develop a delivery system and then make a Vaccine delivery plan that will take this project forward.

In a tender issued by ICMR on June 11, it said it was looking at a system to develop the plan to deliver vaccines by drones. The tender was given out by HLL Infratech Services Limited and was issued in collaboration with the IIT Kanpur study which showed good results of vaccine delivery by aerial vehicles. In April, along with IIT Kanpur, the Ministry of Civil Aviation also approved the ICMR to conduct the study.

It wants drones that can travel up to 35 kilometres at an altitude of 100 meters, it said in its tender statement. Similarly, these drones must be able to carry a weight of at least 4 kg. Parachute-based delivery is not preferred. However, a new problem has arisen. The Central Government has selected 20 companies to use drone delivery as per ICMR conditions. ICMR stipulates that delivery should take place in invisible areas. I.e. beyond the line of sight. But so far no company has done such an operation. This is because, under current regulations, they can only operate their drones in areas within sight.

Currently, only two vaccines are being used on a large scale in the country. Covaxin is made in the country and is manufactured by Bharat Biotech. At the same time, Britain's Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine named as Covishield is being manufactured by the Serum Institute in India. The Russian Vaccine Sputnik-V is manufactured by Dr. Reddy Lab in India. However, this vaccine is currently only available in a few private hospitals. It is said to be available to everywhere soon. The DCGI decision has made it easier for vaccines such as Pfizer and Moderna to enter the country. Looking at the country's vaccination program so far over 25 crore vaccine doses have been given to the people.