The Dalai Lama, the 85-year-old Tibetan spiritual leader, was given the first shot of the coronavirus vaccine on Saturday at a hospital in the northern Indian hill town of Dharamshala.
After receiving the injection, he urged people to be brave and come forward to be vaccinated.
“To prevent serious problems, this injection is very, very useful,” he said.
Dr GD Gupta, from Zonal Hospital, where the shot was fired, told reporters that the Dalai Lama was then observed for 30 minutes. “He offered to come to the hospital like a normal man to get himself vaccinated,” he said.
Ten other people living in the Dalai Lama residence have also been vaccinated, Gupta said. All 11 received the Covishield vaccine, a version of the Oxford / AstraZeneca vaccine manufactured by the Indian Serum Institute.
India: number of new coronavirus cases per day
India has confirmed more than 11 million cases of coronavirus and more than 157,000 deaths. The country, which has the second highest impact in the world behind the US, began its vaccination process in January, starting with health care and frontline workers. Earlier this month, it expanded its vaccination system to older people and people with medical conditions that put them at risk.
The Dalai Lama made Dharamshala its headquarters in 1959 and fled Tibet following a failed uprising against Chinese rule. China does not recognize the Tibetan exile and accuses the Dalai Lama of wanting to separate Tibet from China.
The Dalai Lama denies being a separatist and says he is only advocating for substantial autonomy and protection of the region’s indigenous Buddhist culture.