NEW DELHI In hopes of taming a monstrous spike in COVID-19 infections, India opened vaccinations to all adults Saturday, launching a huge inoculation effort that was sure to tax the limits of the federal government, the country s vaccine factories and the patience of its 1.4 billion people. The world s largest maker of vaccines was still short of critical supplies the result of lagging manufacturing and raw material shortages that delayed the rollout in several states. And even in places where the shots were in stock, the country s wide economic disparities made access to the vaccine inconsistent. The country s ambitious effort was also partly overshadowed Saturday by a fire in a COVID-19 ward in western India that killed 18 patients, and the reported deaths of eight patients at a New Delhi hospital after it ran short of oxygen supplies. That report, from the Press Trust of India news agency, could not be immediately confirmed with hospital authorities.
India launches effort to inoculate all adults against COVID
by Aniruddha Ghosal And Maria Cheng, The Associated Press
Posted May 1, 2021 12:13 am EDT
Last Updated May 1, 2021 at 12:14 am EDT
NEW DELHI In hopes of taming a monstrous spike in COVID-19 infections, India opened vaccinations to all adults Saturday, launching a huge inoculation effort that was sure to tax the limits of the federal government, the country’s vaccine factories and the patience of its 1.4 billion people.
The world’s largest maker of vaccines was still short of critical supplies the result of lagging manufacturing and raw material shortages that delayed the rollout in several states. And even in places where the shots were in stock, the country’s wide economic disparities made access to the vaccine inconsistent.
In hopes of taming a monstrous spike in COVID-19 infections, India opened vaccinations to all adults Saturday, launching a huge inoculation effort that was sure to tax the limits of the federal government, the country’s vaccine factories and the patience of its 1.4 billion people.