Workers at the Bangalore airport are transporting cardboard boxes containing vials containing the Covishield vaccine, developed by the Serum Institute of India in Bangalore, India, January 12, 2021.
Stringer | Xinhua | Getty Images
SINGAPORE – India is gearing up for one of the largest mass vaccination exercises in the world starting Saturday.
The South Asian country plans to inoculate about 300 million people, or more than 20% of its 1.3 billion residents, against Covid-19 in the first phase of the exercise.
Indian airlines have started delivering the first doses of vaccines to Delhi and other major cities, including Kolkata, Ahmedabad and tech hub Bengaluru, Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri tweeted earlier this week.
Priority for admissions will be given to health care and other frontline workers – an estimated 30 million people. That would be followed by those over 50 and other younger people at high risk.
During the rollout, there will be close cooperation between government and states.
India has also developed a digital portal called Co-WIN Vaccine Delivery Management System. It will provide real-time information on “vaccine stocks, their storage temperature and individualized tracking of beneficiaries”, according to the Ministry of Health.
India has a long history of immunization campaigns … and will rely on this expertise to spread coronavirus vaccines.
“India’s expertise in vaccine manufacturing and experience with mass immunization campaigns has prepared it well for ‘Phase 1’ vaccinations starting this weekend,” Akhil Bery, South Asia analyst at Eurasia Group, wrote in a report this week. .
“India has a long history of immunization campaigns, including the Universal Immunization Program, which vaccinates 55 million per year, and will rely on this expertise to distribute coronavirus vaccines,” he added.
Emergency approval
India’s drug regulator has approved the limited use of two coronavirus emergency vaccines, both of which will be delivered to the various vaccination centers before Saturday.
One is a vaccine developed by the British-Swedish firm AstraZeneca and Oxford University, which is domestically manufactured by the Serum Institute of India (SII) and known locally as Covishield.
Another vaccine, called Covaxin, was Developed domestically by the Indian Bharat Biotech in conjunction with the state-run Indian Council for Medical Research. It has been authorized for emergency use as clinical trials continue.
Covaxin’s approval was reportedly criticized by some as the regulator gave the green light shortly after asking Bharat Biotech for more analysis.
The Indian health minister said Tuesday that the Indian government has entered into purchasing agreements for 11 million doses of Covishield at 200 Indian rupees ($ 2.74) per dose. and 5.5 million doses of Covaxin at an average cost of 206 rupees per shot, which will likely be cheaper than what they will cost in the private market.
Several other candidates, including a second domestically developed vaccine from Zydus Cadila, are undergoing clinical trials.
Potential risks
India currently has more than 10.5 million cases of coronavirus, second only to the United States. According to data from Johns Hopkins University, more than 151,000 people have died of Covid-19 in India. But the daily reported figures show that the number of active contamination cases is decreasing.
South Asia’s largest country is also the world’s largest vaccine manufacturer and is said to produce about 60% of all vaccines sold worldwide.
As such, production of Covid vaccines in India is expected to play an important role in global immunization efforts against the disease.
Eurasia Group Bery said that, despite the government’s optimism, two major risks could potentially slow the rollout of the vaccination campaign.
First, vaccine production capacity will be limited, even in the best of scenarios, he said, adding that if the local vaccine manufacturers cannot produce the 600 million doses needed to inoculate the first 300 million people, the immunization timeline of India – and vaccine exports to other countries – could be significantly slowed. “
The second risk is that the vaccination campaign in India will depend heavily on state governments “whose capabilities and expertise vary widely,” Bery said. “There will be a need for effective coordination between central and state governments, something that was not (Prime Minister Narendra) Modi’s strong point.”