PM Modi to virtually launch Covid vaccination drive & officially launch Co-WIN app on 16 Jan

Jan. 14: As India prepares for the mega vaccine drive, the two covid vaccines have reached different cities. Prime Minister Narendra Modi will kick-off Covid-19 vaccination drive at 10.30 AM on 16 January, 2021 as the country initiates the world’s largest vaccination programme. On the same day, PM Modi will also officially launch the COVID Vaccine Intelligence Network (Co-WIN) app. It is a digital platform created by the Union Health Ministry for real-time monitoring of COVID-19 vaccine delivery and distribution.

Some 3 lakh health workers will receive shots on the first day. The vaccination drive will begin with 3,006 sites that will be virtually connected during the launch. Each centre will inoculate 100 people a day to begin with. A 24×7 call centre – 1075 – has also been established for addressing questions related to the pandemic, the vaccine rollout and the Co-WIN software.

Priority will be given to the healthcare workers and the frontline workers, estimated to be around 3 crore, followed by those above 50 years and the under-50 population groups with co-morbidities numbering around 27 crore. The full initial procurement of 1.65 crore doses of COVID-19 vaccines – Covishield and Covaxin– has been allocated to all states and UTs in proportion to their healthcare workers database.

So far, the country’s drug regulators have given their nod to two COVID-19 vaccines for emergency use. These are – Covishield and Covaxin. Oxford University and AstraZeneca have developed the Covishield vaccine and it is being produced in India by domestic pharmaceutical giant Serum Institute of India (SII). While Bharat Biotech has indigenously developed the Covaxin vaccine.