COVID-19 Vaccines to Roll Out from Jan 16 in India

New Delhi: India is all set to take the landmark step in fighting the novel Coronavirus by starting its vaccination drive on January 16. Prime Minister Narendra Modi shared the information via Twitter.

"On 16th January, India takes a landmark step forward in fighting COVID-19. Starting that day, India's nation-wide vaccination drive begins. Priority will be given to our brave doctors, healthcare workers, frontline workers including Safai Karamcharis," PM Modi tweeted.

A high-level meeting was chaired by PM Modi to review the status od COVID-19 in the country. He also reviewed the preparedness of all the States and the Union Territories for the vaccination drive on Saturday.

The high-level meeting was also attended by Cabinet Secretary, Principal Secretary to PM, Health Secretary, and the other senior officials concerned.

PM Modi further took a detailed report of the status od coronavirus management, which covered various issues. The Emergency Use Authorisation or Accelerated Approval has been granted by the National Regulator for two vaccines, which are Covishield and Covaxin. These two vaccines have established safety & immunogenicity.

The vaccination exercise is supported by the principles of people's participation; no compromise of existing healthcare services, utilising the experience of elections and Universal Immunisation Program (UIP); no compromise on scientific and regulatory norms, other SOPs; and an orderly and smooth implementation driven by technology.

The first priority after the vaccines are rolled out will be given to the healthcare workers and the frontline workers. They are estimated to be around 3 crores. They will be followed by the people above 50 years of age, which will further be followed by people under 50 years of with co-morbidities.

The Co-WIN Vaccine Delivery Management System will provide real-time information about vaccine stocks, the storage temperature for the vaccines, and individualised tracking of beneficiaries of the COVID-19 vaccine.

The dry run of COVID-19 vaccines has been conducted in three phases across the country.

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