The Union Health Ministry on Tuesday said that it is prepared to roll out the coronavirus vaccine by January 13, paving the way for a mass vaccination drive in the country.
"We are prepared to roll out Covid-19 vaccines within 10 days of granting emergency use authorisation date, based on dry run feedback," said Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan at a press conference. Approval of two vaccines was given on January 3.
The Drug Controller General of India had, on Sunday, announced approvals to two vaccines - Oxford-AstraZeneca's Covishield manufactured by Serum Institute of India and Bharat Biotech's Covaxin - against coronavirus infection - for restricted emergency use.
The announcement is a major relief for India which has the second-highest number of infections in the world, after the US.
The vaccine will be first offered to one crore healthcare workers, along with two crore frontline and essential workers and 27 crores elderly, mostly above the age of 50 years with co-morbidities.
On Saturday, Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan had announced that one crore healthcare workers, along with two crore frontline workers will get the vaccine for free.
Today's announcement by the government is good news as cases are rising due to a highly infectious strain of mutant Covid that is reaching India with people returning from the UK. By far 58 people have tested positive for the new strain, and on Tuesday 20 new cases were reported.
A dry run for covid-19 vaccination has already been held across the country. In the process, the participants receive dummy Coronavirus vaccines. This test will display the mechanisms and exhibit possible gaps in the system ahead of the actual vaccination drive