NEW DELHI – India began vaccinating health workers on Saturday with probably the world’s largest vaccination campaign against Covid-19, and they will join the ranks of affluent countries where the effort is already underway.
Indian authorities hope to shoot 300 million people, roughly the population of the United States. But there is no playbook for the scope of the challenge.
The recipients include 30 million doctors, nurses and other front-line workers to be followed by 270 million others, who are over 50 or have diseases that make them vulnerable to the coronavirus.
For workers who pulled the battered health care system through India through the pandemic, the shots gave confidence that life could return to normal.
“I’m excited to be one of the first to get the vaccine,” nurse Gita Devi said as she lifted her sleeve to receive the shot.
“I’m glad I made a vaccine manufactured by India, and we do not have to depend on it,” Devi said. He treated patients throughout the pandemic in a hospital in Lucknow, the capital of Uttar Pradesh.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched the campaign with a national television speech.
“We are launching the world’s largest vaccination campaign and it shows the world our ability,” Modi said. But he begged citizens to be vigilant and not believe any “rumors about the safety of the vaccines”.
It was not clear whether Modi (70) took the vaccine himself like other world leaders as an example of the safety of the shot. His government said politicians would not be considered priority groups in the first phase of implementation.
The large scale of vaccination has its obstacles.
India, for example, plans to rely heavily on a digital platform to track the delivery and delivery of vaccines. But public health experts point out that the internet remains volatile in large parts of the country, and that some remote towns are not connected at all.
India approved the use of two vaccines, one developed by Oxford University and UK drugmaker AstraZeneca, and another by Indian company Bharat Biotech, on 4 January. Last week, cargo planes flew 16.5 million shots to various Indian cities.
Health experts are concerned that the shortcut used by the regulation to approve the Bharat Biotech vaccine without waiting for concrete data that could show its effectiveness could boost the vaccine’s hesitation. At least one state health minister opposed its use.
The Indian Ministry of Health has voiced the criticism, saying that the vaccines are safe but claims that health workers will have no choice but to decide which vaccine they can get.
According to SP SP Kalantri, the director of a rural hospital in Maharashtra, the country worst hit in India, such an approach is worrying because he said the regulatory approval is hasty and not supported by science.
“In a hurry to be populist, the government is making decisions that may not be in the best interests of the common man,” Kalantri said.
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Against the backdrop of a rising death toll from the global coronavirus – which reached 2 million on Friday – the clock is ticking to vaccinate as many people as possible. But the global campaign was unequal.
In affluent countries, including the United States, Britain, Canada, and Germany, millions of citizens have already received some protection with at least one dose of vaccine. But elsewhere, immunization drives have barely come off the ground.
While most doses have been captured by affluent countries, COVAX, a UN-backed project to deliver shots to developing parts of the world, has a shortage of vaccines, money and logistical assistance.
As a result, the World Health Organization’s chief scientist has warned that it is highly unlikely that herd immunity – which requires at least 70% of the world to be vaccinated – will be achieved this year.