New Delhi/Hyderabad: The world’s largest coronavirus vaccination drive aimed at stemming the spread of the pandemic that has infected 10.4 million people will kick-start next week.
Beginning 16 January, India will start administering the first doses of a covid vaccine on 30 million healthcare workers and frontline staff, the health ministry said.
The vaccination campaign will cover 270 million more people, including senior citizens and those with comorbidities in the next phase, the ministry’s release said.
India is home to the second highest outbreak globally, after the US.
A high infection rate has kept the government from fully reopening the economy, which is set for its biggest annual contraction ever.
Around 300 million people will be inoculated in the first stage of deployment, which may take at least four months, said experts.
The existing extensive networks used to vaccinate millions of newborns each year against polio may be drawn upon for the covid inoculation drive.
But public confidence has been dented by a controversial emergency nod given to Bharat Biotech International Ltd’s Covaxin last week.
The shot is yet to clear final-stage human trials.
A survey conducted after the restricted authorization was granted to both vaccines found 69% are hesitant about getting the jabs.
Poor communication has “led to a level of distrust building among citizens”, said Delhi-based pollster LocalCircles that received 8,723 responses to the question on hesitancy to get the jabs.
The government’s top scientific adviser, K. Vijay Raghavan, urged the public to get inoculated and said both vaccines were safe.