Shri Narendra Modi the Prime Minister of India will launch the “world’s largest” vaccination campaign today like as the populous nation tries to bring the COVID-19 pandemic under control starting with two locally-manufactured shot.
Through a video conference PM Modi will address the healthcare workers but he himself will not take the vaccine immediately as the country is initially prioritising nurses, doctors and others on the front line for vaccination.
Calling it the start of the biggest such campaign in the world, on the very first day, around 100 people will be voluntarily vaccinated in each of the 3,006 centres in the country, as the government said this week.
“This will be the world’s largest vaccination programme covering the entire length and breadth of the country,” Modi’s office said in a statement this week.
Tomorrow, 16th January, India begins the pan-India rollout of COVID-19 Vaccination drive.
The launch will take place at 10:30 AM tomorrow morning. https://t.co/zopwtXPmZO
— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) January 15, 2021
India, being the world’s most populated country after China, has said it will not create herd immunity so it may not need to vaccinate all of its 1.35 billion people. Still, it can make it one of the largest imminisation programmes in the world even if it covers its half of the population, even if countries like the United States were to vaccinate every resident.
However, beneficiaries will not be able to choose between the Oxford University/AstraZeneca vaccine and a government-backed, indigenous vaccine Bharat Biotech whose efficacy is unknown. Both are being produced locally.
India, which has reported the highest number of coronavirus infections after the United States, wants to inoculate around 300 million people with two doses within the first six to eight months of the year.
More than 151,000 of whom have died and around 10.5 million people in India have been infected with the coronavirus, though the rate of cases has come down since a mid-September peak.
The 30 million health and other frontline workers like those in sanitation and security are the ones to get the first vaccines, followed by about 270 million people older than 50 or believed to be at high-risk because of pre-existing medical conditions.
At 10:15 AM, today, I’ll be joining doctors & potential vaccine beneficiaries at AIIMS, Delhi to participate in the #LargestVaccineDrive,
launch of #COVID19 vaccination drive by Hon’ble PM Sh @narendramodi JiWatch Live!
🔹https://t.co/zsWCYml5dJ
🔸https://t.co/fJImeR9axx pic.twitter.com/EN78tlfqQo— Dr Harsh Vardhan (@drharshvardhan) January 16, 2021
Politicians will not be considered frontline workers, said Modi.
On Saturday, the inauguration of the government’s online platform Co-WIN that will provide information on vaccine stocks, storage temperature and keep track of beneficiaries is also expected by the Prime Minister.
Moreover, 11 million doses of the AstraZeneca COVISHIELD shot has been already bought by the government that produced by the Serum Institute of India, and 5.5 million of Bharat Biotech’s COVAXIN.
According to the Indian drug regulator, COVISHIELD is 72% effective, while Bharat Biotech says COVAXIN’s last-stage trial results are expected by March.
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