India gears up for Covid-19 vaccination drive on January 16: Rollout underway across states

All preparations are on track for the Covid-19 vaccine roll-out from 16th January 2021. The cost of vaccination of Health Care Workers & Front Line Workers will be borne by the Central Government. 

All preparations are on track for the Covid-19 vaccine roll-out from 16th January 2021. The cost of vaccination of Health Care Workers & Front Line Workers will be borne by the Central Government. India is all set to receive the 1st Covid-19 vaccine as the Drug Controller General of India (DCGI) has approved Oxford AstraZeneca’s CoviShield and Bharat Biotech’s Covaxin for restricted use in India. The government’s ‘expert group’ has primarily identified 3 priority groups for the vaccination, which include healthcare workers, frontline workers, and senior citizens above 50 years of age with co-morbidities.

The first batch of the Serum Institute of India’s CoviShield had arrived in Mumbai and BMC confirmed to receive a total of 1,39,500 vaccine doses. Ahead of the nationwide Covid-19 inoculation drive which is scheduled to begin on January 16, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal will hold a review meeting on Thursday with officials from the health department, heads of hospitals, and officials to review preparations under the Delhi government’s government”s Covid vaccination rollout plan.

Talking about the details of the inoculation exercise in Delhi, Kejriwal said that 81 centres will be allocated for the drive on Saturday. For four days a week- Monday, Tuesday, Thursday & Saturday, about 100 people will be vaccinated at each of the centres everyday. These centres will then be increased from 81 to 175 in a few days and then to 1,000 across the state, he added. Earlier, Kejriwal had announced that the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) will provide coronavirus vaccine free to the people of Delhi if the Centre fails to do so.

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India is gearing up to begin the biggest vaccination drive for one nation in history while the dry runs ensured efficient planning and management for vaccine delivery in each district of all States/UTs. Meanwhile, a World Health Organization (WHO) team of 10 international experts will investigate the origins of the COVID19 pandemic in Wuhan and has arrived in China shortly.

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