Bangalore airport workers transfer cardboard boxes containing Covishield vaccine vials developed by the Serum Institute of India to Bangalore, India on January 12, 2021.
Stringer | Xinhua | Getty Images
SINGAPORE – India is preparing for one of the largest mass vaccination drills in the world as of Saturday.
The South Asian country plans to inoculate about 300 million people, or more than 20% of its 1.3 billion population, against Covid-19 in the first phase of the year.
Indian airlines have begun administering the first doses of vaccines in Delhi and other major cities, including Calcutta, Ahmedabad and the Bengaluru technology center, tweeted to Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri in early this week.
Priority will be given to shooting at health workers and other front-line workers, approximately 30 million people. They would be followed by those over 50 and other young, high-risk people.
Deployment will involve close collaboration between the central government and the states.
India has also developed a digital portal called Co-WIN Vaccine Delivery Management System. It will provide real-time information on “vaccine stocks, their storage temperature and individualized monitoring of beneficiaries,” according to the health ministry.
India has a long history of vaccination campaigns … and will rely on this experience to distribute coronavirus vaccines.
“India’s experience in vaccine manufacturing and experience in mass vaccination campaigns have prepared it well for the‘ phase 1 ’vaccinations that will start this weekend,” wrote Akhil Bery, analyst of South Asia from the Eurasia group, in a report this week.
“India has a long history of vaccination campaigns, including its Universal Vaccination Program which inoculates 55 million a year, and will rely on this experience to distribute coronavirus vaccines,” he added.
Emergency approval
India’s drug regulator has approved the restricted use of two coronavirus vaccines in emergency situations, both of which will be delivered to different inoculation centers before Saturday.
One is a vaccine developed by the British-Swedish firm AstraZeneca and Oxford University, which is manufactured nationally by the Serum Institute of India (SII) and is known locally as Covishield.
Another vaccine, called Covaxin, was developed nationwide by India Bharat Biotech in collaboration with the State Medical Research Council of India. Emergency use authorization was granted as clinical trials continued.
According to reports, some criticized the approval of Covaxin, as the regulator gave the green light shortly after requesting further analysis from Bharat Biotech.
India’s health secretary said on Tuesday that the Indian government has signed acquisition agreements for 11 million doses of Covishield at 200 Indian rupees ($ 2.74) per dose and 5.5 million doses of Covaxin at an average cost of 206 rupees per shot, which is probably cheaper than it will cost in the private market.
Several other candidates, including a second vaccine developed nationwide by Zydus Cadila, are undergoing clinical trials.
Potential risks
India currently has more than 10.5 million cases of coronavirus reported, only after the United States. More than 151,000 people have died from Covid-19 in India, according to data from Johns Hopkins University. But daily figures show that the number of active infection cases is declining.
The largest country in South Asia is also the largest vaccine manufacturer in the world and is said to produce approximately 60% of all vaccines sold worldwide.
As such, the production of Covid vaccines from India is expected to play an important role in global immunization actions against the disease.
Bery, of the Eurasia group, said that despite government optimism, two major risks could slow down the deployment of the vaccination campaign.
“First, vaccine production capacity will be limited even in the best cases,” he said, adding that if local vaccine manufacturers cannot produce the 600 million doses needed to inoculate the 300 million. initial people, then “India’s vaccination schedule – and its export of vaccines to other countries could be significantly delayed.”
The second risk is that India’s vaccination campaign will be largely based on state governments “whose capabilities and knowledge vary widely,” Bery said. “Effective coordination between the central and state governments will be needed, which has not been (Prime Minister Narendra) Modi’s strong point.”