Bangalore airport workers are transferring cardboard boxes containing Covishield vaccine vials developed by the Serum Institute of India in Bangalore, India, January 12, 2021.
Stringer | Xinhua | Getty Images
SINGAPORE – India is preparing for one of the largest mass vaccination exercises in the world starting on Saturday.
The South Asian country intends to inoculate about 300 million people, or more than 20% of its population of 1.3 billion, against Covid-19 in the first phase of the exercise.
Indian airlines have begun delivering the first doses of vaccines to Delhi and other major cities, including Kolkata, Ahmedabad and the Bengaluru technology center, Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri wrote on Twitter earlier this week.
The priority for the shootings will be given to health workers and other employees – about 30 million people. This would be followed by those over the age of 50 and other younger people at high risk.
Implementation will involve close collaboration between the central government and the states.
India has also developed a digital portal called the Co-WIN Vaccine Delivery Management System. It will provide real-time information on “vaccine stocks, storage temperature and individualized follow-up of beneficiaries”, according to the health ministry.
India has a long history of immunization campaigns … and will rely on this expertise to distribute coronavirus vaccines.
“India’s experience in vaccine manufacturing and experience with mass immunization campaigns have prepared it well for the ‘Phase 1’ vaccinations that will begin this weekend,” Akhil Bery, a South Asian analyst at Eurasia Group, wrote in report this week.
“India has a long history of immunization campaigns, including its universal immunization program, which inoculates 55 million a year, and will rely on this expertise to distribute coronavirus vaccines,” he added.
Emergency approval
India’s drug regulator has approved the restricted use of two coronavirus vaccines in emergencies, both of which will be delivered to various inoculation centers by Saturday.
One of these is a vaccine developed by the British-Swedish company AstraZeneca and Oxford University, which is manufactured in-house by the Serum Institute of India (SII) and is known locally as Covishield.
Another vaccine, called Covaxin, was developed in-house by Bharat Biotech India in collaboration with the state-run Indian Medical Research Council. Emergency use authorization has been granted as clinical trials continue.
Covaxin’s approval has been criticized by some because the regulator gave the green light shortly after Bharat Biotech requested more tests.
Indian Health Secretary said on Tuesday that the Indian government had signed purchase 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 is likely to be cheaper than what it will cost on the private market.
Several other candidates, including a second vaccine developed internally by Zydus Cadila, are undergoing clinical trials.
Potential risks
India currently has over 10.5 million reported cases of coronavirus, second only to the United States. More than 151,000 people have died from Covid-19 in India, according to Johns Hopkins University. But the figures reported daily show that the number of active infection cases is declining.
The largest country in South Asia is also the largest producer of vaccines in the world and is said to produce about 60% of all vaccines sold globally.
As such, the production of Covid vaccines in India is expected to play a major role in global immunization actions against the disease.
The Eurasia Bery Group said that despite the government’s optimism, two important risks could slow down the vaccination campaign.
“First, the vaccine’s production capacity will be limited even in the best of circumstances,” he said, adding that if local vaccine manufacturers cannot produce the 600 million doses needed to inoculate the initial 300 millions of people, then “India’s immunization schedule – and its export of vaccines to other countries – could be significantly delayed. “
The second risk is that India’s vaccination campaign will be largely based on state governments “whose capabilities and expertise vary widely,” Bery said. “Effective coordination between central and state governments will be needed, which was not the strength of (Prime Minister Narendra) Modi.”