OVER 3,000 PERSONNEL GET COVID VACCINE

NEW DELHI: The armed forces on Saturday kicked off the first phase of the Covid-19 vaccine drive at multiple locations across the country including Ladakh, Delhi, Mumbai and Visakhapatnam, where thousands of “Covid warriors”, including military doctors, nurses and paramedics were vaccinated against the coronavirus on a day India rolled out the biggest vaccination campaign in the world, officials familiar with the development said.

No adverse events were reported on the opening day of the drive in the armed forces. In the army alone, a total of 3,129 health care workers were vaccinated on the first day, the officials said.

While top priority is being given to Covid warriors who are at the at the forefront of the fight against the pandemic, frontline soldiers including those deployed in the Ladakh theatre are among the military personnel who will get the vaccine ahead of others, officials said.

Military doctors, paramedics and frontline soldiers deployed in eastern Ladakh, where India and China are locked in a border standoff, will be among the set of armed forces personnel to be vaccinated against the coronavirus, HT reported on Friday.

“The vaccination drive has begun across India including Ladakh where military medical personnel were vaccinated today. Frontline soldiers will also be vaccinated soon,” one of the officials cited above said on condition of anonymity.

All earmarked military hospitals have been supplied with the first consignment of doses and the vaccination drive will gather momentum in the coming days, said a second official. Sepoy Sunil Das from the Army Medical Corps was the first one to receive the shot in Leh, he said.

In Ladakh, 20 ITBP (Indo-tibetan Border Police) personnel including three doctors and 17 paramedics were given the first shot.

In Delhi, Covid warriors, including senior military doctors, received shots at the Army’s Base Hospital, Army Hospital (Research and Referral) and the Armed Forces Clinic, the Indian Army said on Twitter.

In Mumbai, the first phase was rolled out at the naval hospital Asvini with its commandant Rear Admiral Sheila Mathai receiving the first dose, officials said.