COVID-19: Vaccination drive to start from January 16 in India

COVID-19: Vaccination drive to start from January 16 in India

P

rime Minister Narendra Modi chaired a high-level meeting on Saturday evening to analyse the COVID-19 situation in the country. Following this, the government announced that the vaccination drive will begin on January 16. The government also said that the first round will include about three crore people who are healthcare and frontline workers which will be followed by the next set of people numbering around 27 crore who are above 50 years of age and under 50 with co-morbidities.

 "After the detailed review, it was decided that in view of the forthcoming festivals including Lohri, Makar Sankranti, Pongal, Magh Bihu, etc, the COVID-19 vaccination will start from January 16, 2021," the government said in a statement. "Emergency Use Authorisation or Accelerated Approval has been granted by the National Regulator for two vaccines (Covishield and Covaxin) which have established safety and immunogenicity," it further added. The meeting was attended by the cabinet secretary, principal secretary to PM, health secretary and other senior officials concerned.

During the meeting PM Modi was told about the preparations being done for the roll out of the vaccine and Centre's collaboration with the States and UTs in the same matter. He was also informed about the Co-Win App. It is a digitised platform in order to provide real time information of stocks, storage temperature and individualised tracking of beneficiaries of the vaccine. Until now 7.9 million beneficiaries have been registered on the App.