Coronavirus News LIVE Updates: India is holding nationwide drills today 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. Serum Institute of India, the The world’s largest vaccine producer, it has already stocked tens of millions of campaign-ready doses of AstraZeneca’s Covishield and has trained 96,000 healthcare workers for the inoculation campaign. The drills saw 25 healthcare workers receive mock vaccines at each of the centers to be used across the country in a pre-launch test.
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