India is set to begin fighting the coronavirus pandemic on Saturday (January 16) with mass vaccinations. On this day, vaccination against coronavirus will start in 3006 centers in India.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate the vaccination program at 10.30 am local time.
Vaccinations will be given daily at the vaccination centers from 9 am to 5 pm. One and a half lakh trained health workers in 700 districts are in charge of this vaccination program.
In the first phase, the government is preparing to vaccinate 3 crore people including health workers. In addition to health workers, cleaners, army and disaster management personnel are on the first list.
The country's health minister, Harsh Vardhan, said more than 300,000 health workers are to be vaccinated on the first day of the long-awaited vaccination program. He described the program as "the beginning of coronavirus eradication".
NDTV reports said the Delhi Task Force Dr. Sunila Garg said the first to be vaccinated is under 50 years of age. The list includes mostly nurses, ward boys, cleaners and young doctors. More than 80 percent of our health workers are under the age of 50.
Earlier in the year, the country's drug regulator approved the emergency use of two vaccines. These are the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine produced in India by the Serum Institute of India Covishield. And the Indian company Bharat Biotech's Covaxin.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Modi has also approved a digital platform called 'Co-Win Vaccine Delivery Management System' to collect all the information about the corona vaccination program. It provides instant information on tick storage, storage temperature and distribution status.
At present, India has 1 crore 10 lakh doses of vaccines produced by Seram Institute and 55 lakh doses of vaccines produced by Bharat Biotech. The government plans to vaccinate at least 30 crore people in the next six to eight months. As of Friday, the number of coronavirus patients in India has exceeded 1 crore 5 lakh 27 thousand. India is the second most affected country in Corona. About one and a half lakh people lost their lives.