India launches world’s largest vaccination program

The Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi on January 16, 2021 launched the pan India rollout of COVID-19 vaccination drive via video conferencing.

• This is the world’s largest vaccination program covering the entire length and breadth of the country.

• At 11.10am on 16 January, 34-year-old sanitation worker Manish Kumar became the first person in Delhi to get the Covid-19 vaccine.

• A total of 3006 session sites across all States and UTs were virtually connected during the launch.

• A total of 3,352 sessions were held wherein 1,91,181 beneficiaries were vaccinated as per the provisional reports.

• Additional 3,429 beneficiaries were vaccinated in Defence institutions. As many as 16,755 personnel were actively involved in organizing the immunization session sites.

• Two types of COVID-19 vaccines have been supplied for the vaccination drive: 1. Covishield vaccine (made by Serum Institute of India Ltd) has been supplied to all States/UTs. 2. Covaxin vaccine (made by Bharat Biotech International Ltd) has been supplied to 12 States.