Abstract

Free vaccination against COVID-19 commenced in India on January 16, 2021, and the government is urging all of its citizens to be immunized, in what is expected to be the largest vaccination program in the world. Out of the eight COVID-19 vaccines that are currently under various stages of clinical trials in India, four were developed in the country. India’s drug regulator has approved restricted emergency use of Covishield (the name employed in India for the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine) and Covaxin, the home-grown vaccine produced by Bharat Biotech. Indian manufacturers have stated that they have the capacity to meet the country’s future needs for COVID-19 vaccines. The manpower and cold-chain infrastructure established before the pandemic are sufficient for the initial vaccination of 30 million healthcare workers. The Indian government has taken urgent measures to expand the country’s vaccine manufacturing capacity and has also developed an efficient digital system to address and monitor all the aspects of vaccine administration.

Details

Title
Strategy for COVID-19 vaccination in India: the country with the second highest population and number of cases
Author
Kumar Velayudhan Mohan 1   VIAFID ORCID Logo  ; Pandi-Perumal, Seithikurippu R 2   VIAFID ORCID Logo  ; Trakht Ilya 3 ; Thyagarajan Sadras Panchatcharam 4   VIAFID ORCID Logo 

1  Kerala Chapter, National Academy of Medical Sciences (India), New Delhi, India 
2  Somnogen Canada Inc., Toronto, Canada 
3  Columbia University, Department of Medicine, New York, USA (GRID:grid.21729.3f) (ISNI:0000000419368729) 
4  Sri Ramachandra Institute of Higher Education and Research (Deemed University), Porur, Chennai, India (GRID:grid.21729.3f) 
Publication year
2021
Publication date
2021
Publisher
Nature Publishing Group
e-ISSN
20590105
Source type
Scholarly Journal
Language of publication
English
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41541-021-00327-2
ProQuest document ID
2515932279
Copyright
© The Author(s) 2021. This work is published under http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ (the “License”). Notwithstanding the ProQuest Terms and Conditions, you may use this content in accordance with the terms of the License.