India conducts mock vaccines ahead of mass inoculation campaign

India held nationwide drills on Saturday to kick off one of the world’s largest coronavirus vaccination programs as the drug regulator prepared to approve the first vaccine.

A government panel on Friday recommended the emergency use of the AstraZeneca-Oxford University injection and the first injections could be given next week after the Indian Drug Enforcement Authority gives final approval.

India, which has the second highest number of pandemic cases in the world (more than 10.2 million), has set an ambitious goal of inoculating 300 million of its 1.3 billion people by mid-2021.

The Serum Institute of India, the world’s largest vaccine producer, has already stocked tens of millions of doses of AstraZeneca’s Covishield campaign-ready and 96,000 healthcare workers have been trained for the inoculation campaign.

In the drills, 25 health workers received mock vaccines at each of the centers to be used across the country in a pre-launch test.

Health Minister Harsh Vardhan said the exercise would help develop expertise “so that the next vaccination campaign can continue without any problems.” He has also called for a campaign to counter “misleading rumors” that can scare people from getting vaccinated.

While India ranks second to the United States in the number of cases, its infection rate has dropped significantly from a mid-September peak of more than 90,000 daily cases, and its death rate is lower than others. severely affected countries.

Britain and Argentina authorized the AstraZeneca vaccine this week, while the World Health Organization on Thursday granted emergency validation to rival vaccine Pfizer-BioNTech.

Covishield is expected to see more use in India as it can be stored and transported under normal refrigeration, while Pfizer’s injection requires ultra-low temperatures for storage.