Covid-19 vaccination drive in India to start on Jan 16

Priority for vaccination will be given to nearly three crore healthcare and frontline workers

India will begin Covid-19 vaccination drive from January 16, the health ministry announced on Saturday, after Prime Minister Narendra Modi reviewed the pandemic situation on the same day.

“The Covid-19 vaccination drive will start from January 16 after the forthcoming festivals including Lohri, Makar Sankranti, Pongal and Magh Bihu,” the health ministry said in a statement.

The Prime Minister described the starting of the vaccination drive as a “landmark step forward” in the fight against Covid-19.

“Priority will be given to our brave doctors, healthcare workers, frontline workers including safai karamcharis,” Modi said

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According to the health ministry, healthcare workers and frontline workers are estimated to be around three crore. This would be followed by vaccinating 27 crore people consisting of those above 50 years of age and then those under 50 with co-morbidities.

During the review meeting, the Prime Minister was briefed about the preparedness of the Centre in close collaboration with states and UTs for rolling out vaccine doses in near future as also the Co-Win app.

Co-Win is a digitised platform that will provide real-time information of vaccine stocks, storage temperature and individualised tracking of beneficiaries of the vaccine. Over 79 lakh beneficiaries have been registered on the app.

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The health ministry said that more than 61,000 programme managers, two lakh vaccinators and 3.7 lakh other vaccination team members have been trained so far at States, Districts and Block levels.

On January 3, India's drug regulator had granted approval for the Covid-19 vaccines of the Serum Institute of India (SII) and Bharat Biotech for restricted emergency use. The Union health ministry added that vaccines of both these manufacturers have established safety and immunogenicity.

India has so far conducted three dry runs of the Covid-19 vaccination drive. The first dry run was held December 28 in four states – Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Gujarat and Punjab. This was followed by mock drills on January 2 at 286 session sites across 125 districts, while the third phase was held on January 8 in 736 districts across 33 states and Union Territories.