Modi receiving jab energises vaccine drive
21M SHOTS HAVE BEEN GIVEN SO FAR, UP FROM 5.8M A MONTH AGO
Following a sluggish start, India’s Covid-19 vaccination drive — one of the world’s biggest — has jumped nearly fourfold after the country opened it up to more people and got a crucial public endorsement from the inoculation of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Almost 21 million shots have been administered in India so far, up from 5.8 million a month ago, according to data compiled as of yesterday by Bloomberg and Johns Hopkins University. The number of doses per 100 people has also climbed to 1.58 from 0.44. A record 1.6 million Indians received a Covid-19 vaccine on Saturday, data show.
After an initially lukewarm response — due in part to the controversial approval of a homegrown vaccine before it had completed clinical trials — the vaccination drive gained some momentum after Modi took the injection on March 1 and urged others to follow suit.
Covering employees costs
India also opened the rollout to all citizens above 60 years of age and those 45 and older with co-morbidities, either for free from a state Centre or for a fee of as much as 250 rupees ($3.40) at private hospitals.
Some of the biggest companies operating in the country have said they will cover the costs of vaccination for their employees and families, including Accenture Plc, Infosys
Ltd. and Reliance Industries Ltd., owned by Asia’s richest man Mukesh Ambani. “With your support, we will soon be able to put this pandemic behind us,” Nita Ambani, a director at Reliance and wife of Mukesh, said in a letter to employees seen by Bloomberg.
Confidence Boost
“A large number of people are coming,” Azad Moopen, the chairman of Dubai-based Aster DM Healthcare Ltd., which operates 13 private hospitals in India, said in an interview on Friday.
Along with AstraZeneca PLC’s shot, India has also authorised the use of Covaxin, a vaccine developed by Hyderabad-based Bharat Biotech International Ltd., which initially caused hesitancy among medical and frontline workers. It was approved in early January before it had concluded final-stage human testing.