India has launched one of the largest vaccination programs against Covid-19 in the world, the first major developing country to launch the vaccine, marking the start of an effort to vaccinate more than 1.3 billion people.
The first dose was administered to a health worker at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences in Delhi, after Prime Minister Narendra Modi began the campaign with a national television speech.
Cases of India
“We are launching the world’s largest vaccination campaign and it shows the world our ability,” Modi said. He implored citizens to stay alert and not believe any “rumors about vaccine safety.”
It is unclear whether Modi, 70, has received the vaccine like other world leaders as an example of his safety. His government has said politicians will not be considered priority groups in the first phase of deployment.
India has reported more than 10.5 million cases of coronavirus, the second highest in the world, and 151,000 deaths. The government has been preparing for the deployment of the vaccine for weeks and shipments have been sent to more than 3,000 injection sites in recent days.
India’s health ministry has drawn up plans for vaccinating 300 million people, almost the equivalent of the U.S. population, by August. Priority has been given to front-line health workers, the police and the army, over the age of 50 and with comorbid conditions to follow, all free of charge. Maharashtra, home of Bombay and the state most affected by the coronavirus, plans to vaccinate 50,000 health workers on the first day of the vaccine launch.
Across the country, more than 200,000 vaccinators and 370,000 team members have been trained for deployment. Large-scale testing has been conducted in at least four states and authorities have prepared 29,000 refrigerated storage units to transport and maintain the vaccine safely.
Two vaccines have received emergency approval for India’s vaccination program; the Oxford / AstraZeneca vaccine, known in India as Covishield, and a national product, Covaxin, developed by the pharmaceutical company Bharat Biotech.
The approval of the Bharat Biotech vaccine, sponsored by an Indian government agency, has proven controversial. Covaxin is still in phase 3 human trials and no parental data have been published or reviewed on its efficacy, unlike the Oxford / AstraZeneca vaccine or the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines authorized in the United Kingdom and the United States. Units.
India’s general drug controller, VG Somani, insisted Covaxin was “100% safe”.
The government has ordered 5.5 million doses of Covaxin and 11 million doses of Covishield. Boxes were sent from Covishield with the message “everyone can be free of disease.”
Significantly to facilitate availability and low cost, both vaccines will be produced nationally. The Serum Institute of India, one of the largest vaccine manufacturers in the world, has already produced and stored around 50m doses of Covishield.
The institute has billions of pre-orders from countries around the world who are also desperate for the vaccine. The Indian government is negotiating the amount of stock that needs to be released for export, in the face of fears that it could lead to domestic shortages.
The government faces another challenge from the growing opposition to vaccines in India. According to a survey of more than 8,000 people conducted by local circles, 69% of Indians are hesitant to receive the vaccine.