»Of the 3,530 People Vaccinated on Day 1 in Telangana, 20 Suffer Minor Reactions Like Swelling, Pain
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Of the 3,530 People Vaccinated on Day 1 in Telangana, 20 Suffer Minor Reactions Like Swelling, Pain
A medic prepares the dose of COVID-19 vaccine before giving it to a beneficiary. (PTI Photo)
Modi launched the vaccination drive while reassuring the country that emergency use authorisation was given to two 'made in India' vaccines only after scientists were convinced of their safety and effectiveness, and urged people to beware of propaganda and rumours.
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On the first day of the nationwide COVID-19 vaccination drive on Saturday, the first shots were given to nearly two lakh frontline healthcare and sanitary workers as Prime Minister Narendra Modi rolled out the world's largest inoculation drive against the pandemic that has caused 1,52,093 deaths and upended millions of lives in the country.
A medic administers the first dose of Covishield vaccine to a frontline worker in the presence of Union health minister. (PTI)
NEW DELHI: India kicked off the world's largest Covid-19 inoculation drive on Saturday with thousands of frontline workers and doctors receiving their first vaccine shots on Day 1.
With shots of the Covishield and Covaxin vaccines administered at medical centres across India, citizens heaved a collective sigh of relief in hope that it could finally be the beginning of the end of the Covid-19 trauma.
Launching the campaign earlier today, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that the vaccines will ensure a "decisive victory" for the country over the coronavirus pandemic. Ever since its first confirmed case of coronavirus in January last year, India has reported over 1 crore infections and 1.5 lakh fatalities so far.
Several high profile people take vaccine shots in India
Injecting confidence in the people, several high profile persons, including AIIMS director Randeep Guleria, NITI Aayog member VK Paul, who is also head of an empowered group on medical equipment and management plan to tackle the coronavirus outbreak, Serum Institute of India(SII) CEO Adar Poonawallah, West Bengal minister Nirmal Maji, BJP MP Mahesh Sharma, who is a doctor by profession, Chairman, Apollo Hospitals Group, Dr Prathap C Reddy and Chairman of Manipal Hospitals Sudarshan Ballal also received their first shot of the two-dose vaccine.
Senior doctors received the first shot at many identified vaccination sites to dispel any apprehensions about the vaccine.