PM gets vaccine as India starts giving jabs to elderly
People above 60 and those above 45 with comorbidities queue outside vaccination sites as India opens up inoculation drive
NEW DELHI: India expanded its coronavirus disease (Covid-19) vaccine coverage on Monday by including everyone over 60 and and those older than 45 but with comorbidities that make them more vulnerable to the virus, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi setting the pace by being the first person to take a jab.
Thousands of people queued up at government and private medical facilities across the country as the government further opened its vaccination programme that started on January 16 for health care workers and frontline staff.
Amid reports of glitches and some people saying they were finding it difficult to navigate the Co-WIN 2.0 app to register and book an appointment, the Union health ministry clarified to say the app on Google Playstore is meant for use only by administrators. Registration and booking for appointments has to be done through the portal, it said.
More than 1 million citizens were registered on the Co-WIN portal till 1 pm, the ministry said. Though registration opened at 9 am, the Prime Minister was the first off the block. He visited the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) early in the morning to take his first dose and appeal to everyone eligible to get themselves inoculated.
“Took my first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine at AIIMS. Remarkable how our doctors and scientists have worked in quick time to strengthen the global fight against COVID-19,” Modi tweeted. “I appeal to all those who are eligible to take the vaccine. Together, let us make India COVID-19 free!” he said.
PM Modi used the occasion for some heavy messaging as he took a jab of the indigenously developed Covaxin. He showcased something of three pollbound states — he wore a scarf from Assam and nurses from Kerala and Puducherry, Rosamma Anil and P Niveda, administered the dose.
The other vaccine being administered in the country is Covishield from the Oxford-AstraZeneca stable that is being manufactured by Pune-based Serum Institute of India (SII).
Modi’s move to take the first dose of Covid-19 vaccine on the very first day of India opening up the inoculation drive should eliminate any hesitancy from the minds of people about the vaccine, AIIMS chief Dr Randeep Guleria said. He said AIIMS was informed about the Prime Minister’s visit to the hospital to take the vaccine only late on Sunday night.
PM Modi taking the first dose of the Covid-19 vaccine would go a long way in building confidence in the ongoing nationwide vaccination process against the pandemic, Bharat Biotech, which manufactures Covaxin.
The AIIMS director said Modi took the shot around 6.30 am and was kept under observation for half-and-hour as per protocol and left after that. His second dose is due after 28 days “He is fine after taking the vaccine,” Guleria said.
Sister P Niveda from Puducherry, who administered the shot, told reporters that the PM, after being administered the vaccine shot, remarked, “Laga bhi diya, pata bhi nahin chala (Already done? I didn’t even feel it).” The other nurse, Rosamma Anil from Kerala, said it was the happiest day of her life.
As the vaccination programme got underway in other places across the country with
hopes that it would help control the the uptick in cases in several states, Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu, Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar and his Odisha counterpart Naveen Patnaik also received their shots.
Vaccines provided to beneficiaries at the government health facilities will be entirely free of cost, while private facilities cannot charge the beneficiary a sum above ₹250 per person per dose (₹150 for vaccines and ₹100 as operational charges).
Citizens can book an appointment for vaccination using the Co-WIN 2.0 portal www.cowin.gov.in or through other IT applications such as Aarogya Setu. There is also a walk-in provision for the beneficiaries to get themselves registered at the nearby session site to get vaccinated.
The eligible beneficiaries can choose the centre of their choice
and book an appointment based on the slots available. All citizens that are aged, or will attain the age of 60 or more as on January 1, 2022, are eligible to register, in addition to all such citizens that are aged or will attain the age of 45 years to 59 years as on January 1, 2022, and have any of the specified 20 comorbidities.
Despite enthusiasm for the vaccine shots, the drive witness teething troubles at a few places in Rajasthan and Delhi. People faced problems like delay in registration during initial hours and glitches in the app.
Experts said it was imperative to open more vaccination centres for the process to pick up pace.
“If we need to achieve our target, we need to have vaccination in more and more places; we have to open it up in a manner that those who are willing to take the vaccine are allowed to come rather than calling people and them not turning up,” said Dr Guleria. “People in the highrisk group residing in regions seeing a spurt in infections should be immunised quickly as it will help in decreasing the mortality and hospitalisations,” he added.
Since the drive began last month, over 14 million doses have been administered across the country. But the coverage has been lower than expected, with only 48 people turning up on average for every 100 people expected for each session, according to government data.
On Monday, the health ministry said 15,510 new cases were registered in a span of 24 hours. Maharashtra continues to report the highest daily new cases at 8,293, followed by Kerala with 3,254 cases while Punjab has reported 579 new cases. The three states along with Tamil Nadu, Gujarat and Karnataka contributed to 87.25% of the fresh cases.