Mega COVID-19 Vaccine Drive Begins in India & Is Third Largest Drive in World

The world’s biggest vaccination drive gets underway today in India with over 3 lakh health workers getting the first Covid-19 vaccinations at 2,934 locations across the country. India has initiated the process of vaccination across the country which is expected to be the world’s largest vaccination drive against Covid-19 on January 16. The government aims to vaccinate 300 million people by July. Recently 2 vaccines have been in the limelight namely Covishield and Covaxine both of which are approved by the DGCI.

Vaccines in India.
The Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) had earlier this month approved Covishield from Oxford University and AstraZeneca by the Serum Institute of India. It also granted restricted emergency use authorization to Covaxin, indigenously developed by Bharat Biotech.

Covishield developed by Oxford University reported that the vaccine prevented 70% of people from getting the infection in a global trial, with one dosing regimen showing the efficacy of 90%. These are the impressive numbers given the fatality of the virus. Another vaccine AstraZeneca also developed by Oxford University showed similar results.

The indigenously developed Covaxin has not reported any concrete data, however, the government assures that a strong and effective vaccine will be delivered. Many health experts state that it is dangerous to start the distribution of a vaccine without adequate data, that is Covaxin.

The first dose of vaccine or the first vaccine drive will be given to the Frontline workers such as safai karamcharis, army, and disaster management volunteers — with those above 50 years. After the successful distribution of vaccines to people above 50 years, the next dose will be given to the people who have chronic diseases such as diabetes or any other disease epidemiology and vaccine availability. At last, the rest of the population will receive the vaccination dose. This is the priority order of the distribution of the vaccine.

Similar to the arogya setu app, The Covid-19 Vaccine Intelligence Network (Co-WIN) system, a digital platform will be used to track the beneficiaries for vaccination on a real-time basis. This will help keep accurate track of the distribution of the vaccine to avoid any mishaps during the distribution. All these steps taken are necessary because of the fatality of the virus. Vaccines are recommended to have a better chance to fight this pandemic.

How to take the vaccine?
Two doses of vaccine, 28 days apart, need to be taken by an individual to complete the vaccination schedule. This applies to both Covishield and Covaxin vaccines.

Over to you.
COVID-19 is a deadly virus and hence the vaccine should be distributed as fast as possible. There will be set priority orders for the Covishield, AstraZeneca, and Covaxin vaccine distribution. The dosage, priority order, and digital platform are mentioned above. The government has assured the distribution of an effective vaccine and the nation looks forward to it. Because of the population, India is the third-largest vaccine drive in the world.