India launches world’s largest coronavirus vaccination campaign



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India began vaccinating health workers in what is expected to be the world’s largest coronavirus vaccination program on Saturday.

A health worker at a Delhi government hospital became the first person to receive a vaccine vaccine in the country of 1.3 billion people, shortly after Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched the year-long campaign with a nationally televised speech.

India plans to vaccinate 300 million people – almost as many as the total population of the United States – by the end of July.

“India is now launching the largest vaccination program in the world. Never before has this type of vaccination and such a large-scale vaccination campaign been carried out in history … It shows the world our capacity, ”Modi said in his speech.

“These vaccines will help us decisively defeat Covid-19,” Modi said, paying tribute to frontline workers and scientists in India.

It is estimated that 30 million doctors, nurses and other frontline workers will be the first to be vaccinated, followed by 270 million people over the age of 50 or deemed to be at high risk.

The Indian drug regulator has given emergency clearance to two vaccines: Covishield, developed by the UK University of Oxford and pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca, and Covaxin, from Indian company Bharat Biotech.

With more than 10.5 million infections, India has recorded the second highest number of Covid-19 infections in the world, after the United States. India’s death toll from coronavirus stands at 151,918.

Some 300,000 health workers were to receive the vaccines on the first day of the vaccination campaign, which Federal Minister of Health Harsh Vardhan said was “probably the beginning of the end” of Covid-19.

The vaccination campaign has started at 3,006 sites; Most state-run health care centers as well as public schools and municipal offices are converted to temporary vaccination centers, with each site vaccinating 100 people, government officials said. This number will be increased to over 5,000 sites as the program progresses.

“There is relief as well as excitement. We are very lucky to have the vaccine, being part of the first line of defense against the virus, ”Anubhav Sharma, doctor at Lok Nayak Hospital in Delhi, who received the vaccine, told NDTV.

“The past few months have been full of worry. We will be more confident in the face of patients and deliver even better care now.

Modi urged Indians not to believe “the propaganda and rumors” about vaccine safety, amid controversy over the locally produced Covaxin, which was cleared for emergency use while still in use. clinical test.

“The drug controller gave his approval after being satisfied with the data for both vaccines. So stay away from rumors, ”he said. “Our vaccine developers have global credibility. The life-saving vaccines given to 60% of the world’s children are made in India. ”

The Covid-19 pandemic has turned lives upside down, squeezed an already slowing economy and caused unprecedented suffering in India, which has seen some of the toughest lockdowns in the world.

Modi appeared moved as he recalled the difficult times India had gone through, choking on people who could not perform the last rites of loved ones, those separated from their families and the deceased elderly isolated.

“Today, when we look back over the last year, we realize that we have learned a lot as individuals, as families and as a nation. I want to remember those days when illness kept people away from their families.

Mothers cried for their children, but could not hold them back. Old fathers alone fought disease in hospitals, their children could not help them. It makes me extremely sad.

Vaccine deployment begins after months of preparation, including the establishment of cold storage chains, three trials of vaccine delivery to different regions of the country and the development of software to track information in real time. vaccine stocks, their storage temperature and vaccine recipients.

India is using its experience of holding gigantic elections, as well as its huge annual immunization program for pregnant women and newborns, for its vaccination campaign against Covid-19.

India plans to offer 20 million doses to its neighbors, with the first batches being shipped over the next two weeks, the Bloomberg news agency reported. The government will then offer the vaccines to countries in Latin America, Africa and the former Soviet republics.

—GNA

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