Bangalore Airport employees transfer cardboard boxes containing vials of Covishield vaccine developed by the Serum Institute of India in Bangalore, India, January 12, 2021.
Stringer | Xinhua | Getty Images
SINGAPORE – India is preparing for one of the largest mass vaccination exercises in the world as of Saturday.
The South Asian country plans to inoculate some 300 million people, or more than 20% of its 1.3 billion population, against Covid-19 in the first phase of the exercise.
Indian airlines began delivering the first doses of vaccines to Delhi and other major cities, including Kolkata, Ahmedabad and the Bengaluru technology center, Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri tweeted earlier this week.
Priority for injections will be given to healthcare professionals and other frontline workers – about 30 million people. This would be followed by those over 50 years of age and other younger, high-risk individuals.
The launch will involve close collaboration between the central government and the states.
India has also developed a digital portal called Co-WIN Vaccine Delivery Management System. It will provide real-time information on “vaccine stocks, their storage temperature and individual tracking of beneficiaries”, according to the Ministry of Health.
India has a long history of immunization campaigns … and will rely on that experience to distribute vaccines against coronavirus.
“India’s expertise in vaccine manufacturing and experience with mass immunization campaigns prepared it well for ‘phase 1’ vaccinations, which are due to start this weekend,” wrote Akhil Bery, South Asia analyst from Eurasia Group in a report this week.
“India has a long history of immunization campaigns, including its Universal Immunization Program that inoculates 55 million a year, and will rely on this experience to distribute vaccines against the coronavirus,” he added.
Emergency approval
The Indian drug regulator has approved the restricted use of two coronavirus vaccines in emergency situations, both being delivered to various inoculation centers before Saturday.
One is a vaccine developed by the Swedish-British company AstraZeneca and the University of Oxford, which is being manufactured internally by the Serum Institute of India (SII) and is known locally as Covishield.
Another vaccine, called Covaxin, was developed internally by Bharat Biotech of India in collaboration with the Indian State Medical Research Council. Emergency use authorization has been granted as clinical trials continue.
Covaxin’s approval was allegedly criticized by some when the regulator gave the green light shortly after asking Bharat Biotech for further analysis.
India’s health secretary said on Tuesday that the Indian government had signed contracts for the acquisition of 11 million doses of Covishield at 200 Indian rupees ($ 2.74) per dose and 5.5 million doses of Covaxin at an average cost of 206 rupees per injection, which is likely to be cheaper than what they will cost in the private market.
Several other candidates, including a second vaccine developed internally by Zydus Cadila, are undergoing clinical trials.
Potential risks
India currently has more than 10.5 million reported cases of coronavirus, second only to the United States. More than 151,000 people died from Covid-19 in India, according to data from Johns Hopkins University. But the numbers reported daily show that the number of cases of active infection is decreasing.
The largest country in South Asia is also the world’s largest vaccine manufacturer and reportedly produces about 60% of all vaccines sold globally.
As such, Indian production of Covid vaccines is expected to play an important role in global disease immunization initiatives.
Bery of the Eurasia Group said that despite the government’s optimism, two major risks could delay the launch of the vaccination campaign.
“First, vaccine production capacity will be limited even under the best of scenarios,” he said, adding that if local vaccine manufacturers cannot produce the 600 million doses needed to inoculate the initial 300 million people, then “the schedule immunization program – and its export of vaccines to other countries – could be significantly delayed. “
The second risk is that India’s vaccination campaign will depend heavily on state governments “whose capabilities and experience vary widely,” said Bery. “Effective coordination between the central and state governments will be needed, something that has not been the strength of (Prime Minister Narendra) Modi.”