BackCovid vaccination drive: AIIMS health worker first to get covid vaccine in India
Doctors, nurses and other healthcare workers are first in the line to get the covid-19 vaccine
PremiumThe COVID-19 vaccination drive began in India with a health worker from the All India Institute of Medical Sciences(AIIMS) becoming the first person in the country to get the covid-19 vaccine.
Doctors, nurses and other healthcare workers are first in the line to get the covid-19 vaccine.
According to the government, the shots will be offered first to an estimated one crore healthcare workers and around two crore frontline workers, and then to persons above 50 years of age, followed by persons younger than 50 years of age with associated comorbidities.
The cost of vaccination of healthcare and frontline workers will be borne by the central government.
Union Health Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan was also present during the starting of one of the world's largest vaccination drive.
AIIMS Director Dr Randeep Guleria also received COVID-19 vaccine jab at AIIMS, Delhi.
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Meanwhile, Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched on Saturday one of the world's largest vaccination campaigns, as part of efforts by the populous nation to bring the COVID-19 pandemic under control starting with two locally-manufactured shots.
Modi, who addressed healthcare workers through video conferencing, will not immediately take the vaccine himself as India is initially prioritising nurses, doctors and others on the front line.
India, home to 1.3 billion people, has the world's second-largest caseload, and the government has given approvals to two vaccines -- though one is yet to complete clinical trials -- aiming to inoculate around 300 million people by July.
Authorities say they are drawing on their experience with elections and child immunisation programmes for the drive, which is a daunting task in an enormous, impoverished nation with often shoddy transport infrastructure and one of the world's worst-funded healthcare systems.
Union Health Minister Dr HarshVardhan said the two vaccines – the indigenous Covaxin from Bharat Biotech and Covishield from the Oxford/AstraZeneca stable - were a ‘sanjivani’, life infusing, in the fight against the pandemic.
"These vaccines are our ‘sanjivini’ in our fight against the pandemic. We have won the battle against polio and now we have reached the decisive phase of winning the war against Covid. I want to congratulate all frontline workers on this day," Vardhan told reporters shortly after the vaccine shots were administered.
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