NEW DELHI (Reuters) – Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi will launch the “biggest” vaccination campaign in the world on Saturday as the populous nation tries to control the COVID-19 pandemic by starting with two vaccines manufactured locally.
Modi will address health professionals via videoconference, but will not get the vaccine immediately, as India is initially prioritizing nurses, doctors and others on the front lines.
On the first day, about 100 people will be vaccinated voluntarily in each of the country’s 3,006 centers, the government said this week, declaring the start of the largest campaign of its kind in the world.
“This will be the largest vaccination program in the world, covering the entire length and breadth of the country,” Modi’s office said in a statement this week.
India, the most populous country in the world after China, said it may not need to vaccinate all 1.35 billion people to create collective immunity. Still, covering half of its population will make it one of the largest immunization programs in the world, even if countries like the United States vaccinate all residents.
Beneficiaries, however, will not be able to choose between the University of Oxford / AstraZeneca vaccine and a vaccine supported by the government and grown at home by Bharat Biotech, whose effectiveness is unknown. Both are being produced locally.
India, which reported the highest number of coronavirus infections after the United States, wants to vaccinate about 300 million people with two doses in the first six to eight months of the year.
About 10.5 million people in India have been infected with the coronavirus, more than 151,000 have died, although the rate of cases has declined since the peak of mid-September.
The first to receive the vaccine will be 30 million health professionals and other frontline professionals, such as sanitation and safety professionals, followed by around 270 million people over 50 or considered to be at high risk due to medical conditions. pre-existing.
Modi, 70, said politicians will not be considered frontline workers.
On Saturday, he is also due to formally inaugurate the Co-WIN government online platform, which will provide information on vaccine stocks, storage temperature and track beneficiaries.
The government has already purchased 11 million doses of the AstraZeneca COVISHIELD injection, produced by the Serum Institute of India, and 5.5 million COVAXIN from Bharat Biotech.
COVISHIELD is 72% effective, according to the Indian drug regulator, while Bharat Biotech says the results of the last stage of the COVAXIN trial are expected in March.
(Reporting by Krishna N. Das; Editing by Ana Nicolaci da Costa)