COVID-19 vaccination in India

On 16 January 2021, India started its national vaccination programme against the SARS-CoV-2 which is responsible for the COVID-19 pandemic. The drive prioritises healthcare and frontline workers, and then those over the age of 50 or suffering from certain medical conditions. According to health officials, India has administered 54,16,849 vaccine doses across the country as of 05 February 2021.[1]

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 COVID-19 Portal
Map of India showing total cumulative vaccination numbers per state as of 16 January 2021, the first day of the vaccination program.

Development
Prime Minister Narendra Modi visits the Serum Institute of India, in Pune to review COVID-19 vaccine trials, on 28 November 2020.

Pune-based Serum Institute of India announced that it would apply for clinical trials of certain strains from Drug Controller General of India (DCGI) in April 2020. As per company president Adar Poonawalla, a vaccine for COVID-19 will be delivered within a year. However, it may not be effective on 20 to 30% people.[2] Two other companies are also trying to develop a vaccine: Zydus Cadila, which is replicating viral vector and developing a DNA plasmid vaccine,[3] and Hyderabad-based Bharat Biotech, in collaboration with US based FluGen, which is expecting the first clinical trials of a nasal vaccine by late 2020.[4] As of late February, the Serum Institute of India had begun animal trials of vaccine candidates,[5] followed by Zydus Cadila in March.[6] ICMR partnered with Bharat Biotech in May to develop COVID vaccine completely in India.[7] Till May, there were over 30 candidates of COVID-19 vaccine in development in India, many of which were already in pre-clinical tests.[8] Per reports emerged in July, ICMR was preparing to launch BBV152 COVID vaccine or Covaxin, India's first COVID-19 vaccine on 15 August following its ongoing human trials in July.[9] Although, later deadline was cited as only meant to cut "red tape" and expected timeline of any Indian vaccine not to be before 2021.[10] COVAXIN has been reported to have positive results on animals in building immunity against COVID-19 in pre-clinical trials.[11] In mid-July, Zydus Cadila too had followed with human trials of its vaccine named ZyCoV-D.[12] In early August, SII's got approval from DCGI for trial phases II & III.[13] SII has also joined GAVI in a partnership with Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to produce 100 million doses of vaccine for developing countries.[14]

In September, India's science minister Dr. Harsh Vardhan announced that the first vaccine for use will be available by first quarter of 2021.[15] 30 million health workers directly dealing with COVID patients, especially doctors and other medical personnel are supposed to be first to receive the vaccine.[16]

COVID-19 Vaccines with Approval for Emergency or Conditional Usage
Main article: COVID-19 vaccine
Union Minister for Health & Family Welfare, Dr. Harsh Vardhan visiting the GTB Hospital, Shahdara to review the preparedness of Dry Run of COVID-19 vaccine, in Delhi on 2 January 2021.

Covishield

On 1 January 2021, the Drug Controller General of India, approved the emergency or conditional use of AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine AZD1222 (marketed as Covishield).[17] Covishield is developed by the University of Oxford and its spin-out company, Vaccitech.[18] It’s a viral vector vaccine based on replication-deficient Adenovirus that causes cold in Chimpanzees. It can be stored, transported and handled at normal refrigerated conditions (two-eight degrees Celsius/ 36-46 degrees Fahrenheit). It has a shelf-life of at least six months.

Covaxin

On 2 January 2021, BBV152 (marketed as Covaxin), first indigenous vaccine, developed by Bharat Biotech in association with the Indian Council of Medical Research and National Institute of Virology received approval from the Drug Controller General of India for its emergency or conditional usage.[19] However, this approval was met with some concern as the vaccine had not then completed phase-3 trials.[20]

Vaccination drive

The national vaccination drive began on 16 January 2021, across 3,006 vaccination centres.[21]

Each vaccination centre will offer either Covishield or Covaxin, but not both. Some states have decided to use only Covishield as the “default option” and keep their Covaxin doses as a “buffer stock”.[20] Since Covaxin has not completed phase-3 trials, those receiving it will need to sign a signed consent form.[22]

On the first day (16 January), 1,65,714 people received the vaccination. There were some delays due to issues in uploading beneficiary lists at some sites.[23]

In the first three days, 6,31,417 people were vaccinated. Of these, 0.18% reported side-effects and nine people (0002%) were admitted to hospitals for observation and treatment.[24][25]

There is concern that the vaccine drive is being slowed down by low turnout, due to a combination of concerns about the safety of the vaccine, technical problems with the software used, and misinformation.[26]

Vaccine on order
Vaccine Progress Doses ordered Approval Deployment
Oxford-AstraZeneca Phase III clinical trials 500 million[27] 01 January 2021[28] 16 January 2021[29]
Covaxin *Phase III clinical trials in progress 10 million 01 January 2021(restricted)[30] 16 January 2021[29]
Novavax Phase III clinical trials 1 billion[27] Pending Pending
Pfizer–BioNTech Phase III clinical trials Pending Pending [lower-alpha 1] Pending
Moderna Phase III clinical trials Pending Pending Pending
Sputnik V Phase III clinical trials 100 million[31] Pending Pending

Vaccination by State

Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh had received 3,70,000 doses of Covishield and 20,000 of Covaxin. It was decided that only Covishield would be administered. The state aims to vaccinate 32,000 people a day. However, on the first two days, only 61 and 47.8 per cent of those days' targets could be vaccinated. There were two cases of adverse events, but neither required hospitalisation.[32]

Bihar

Bihar received 5,69,000 doses of the vaccine. 4,64,160 health workers had registered for the vaccine, and the state expects to vaccinate 30,000 people a day across 300 sites. Some doctors had doubts about the efficacy of Covaxin and refused to take it.[33]

Chattisgarh

One person was admitted to hospital following complications, but was later discharged.[24]

Delhi

4,319 health workers were administered the vaccine on the first day, and there were 51 minor and one major cases of adverse effects.[34] By day three, four people had been admitted to hospitals following complications, of which three had been later discharged.[24]

Karnataka

Karnataka Health Minister K. Sudhakar announced on 9 January that the state would be given 13.9 lakh (1.39 million) doses of Covishield in two batches. 6.3 lakh (630,000) health workers had registered for the vaccine.[35] Two people were admitted to hospital following complications; one person was later discharged.[24] A 43-year old vaccine recipient in Ballari died of a heart stroke two days after the jab.[36]

Kerala

Kerala initially received 4,33,500 doses of Covishield, and an additional batch of 3,60,500 Covishield doses were announced three days later. A total of 24,558 healthcare workers had been vaccinated on the first three days. No adverse reactions were reported. In total, 4,59,853 people from the state registered for the vaccine, including 1,75,673 healthcare workers from state-run hospitals, 1,99,937 from private hospitls, 2,932 from federal hospitals, 74,711 police staff and 6,600 municipal workers.[37]

Maharashtra

Maharashtra received 9,63,000 doses of Covishield and 20,000 doses of Covaxin. 7,85,000 health workers had registered to get the vaccination. 14,883 health workers in Maharashtra given COVID-19 vaccine on Tuesday[38] In Mumbai, only 1,926 people could be vaccinated on the first day, due to a combination of low turnout and technical problems with the software. The vaccination drive was temporarily suspended due to the technical glitches in the software alerting people to their vaccination appointments.[26]

Punjab
This section is an excerpt from COVID-19 pandemic in Punjab, India § Covid-19 vaccination rollout in Punjab[edit]

Phase 1

Health Minister Balbir Singh Sidhu announced around 1.60 lakh health workers in Punjab will receive a COVID-19 vaccine in the first phase, after that frontline worker and then people over the age of 50 or with co-morbid conditions. Vaccination inoculation of healthcare workers has been started in Punjab on 16-01-2021 at 59 designated sites across all the state.[39]

Phase 2

Vaccination of the frontline worker including police, local bodies, disaster management, rural development and panchayats and revenue departments will be starting from 1st of February 2021.[40]
Health officials received the first batch of Covid vaccine at the Chandigarh airport in Mohali
Officials of Jalandhar Civil Hospital hand over the vaccine to the staff of community health centre
Order Priority group Number eligible (estimated) Number of inoculated
1 Healthcare professionals, both government and private 160,000 [41] 6,8376
2 Frontline worker including police, paramilitary forces, sanitation workers & disaster management volunteers 300,000 [42] 7,477
3 People above 50 years and those aged below 50 with co-morbid conditions TBA
4 all those 18 years of age and over TBA
Total 7,5853
As of 2021-02-06
COVID-19 vaccinations in Punjab, February 7, 2021
Vaccine Progress Doses ordered for India Doses allocated for Punjab Approval Deployment
Oxford-AstraZeneca Phase III clinical trials 500 million[43] 204,500 01 January 2021[44] 16 January 2021[45]
Covaxin *Phase III clinical trials in progress 10 million Pending 01 January 2021(restricted)[46] ★16 January 2020[47]
Novavax Phase III clinical trials 1 billion[48] Pending Pending Pending
Moderna Phase III clinical trials Pending Pending Pending Pending
Sputnik V Phase III clinical trials 100 million[49] Pending Pending Pending
  • Please note that this data is interim, so, the information is subject to change as per new official updates from health officials

★ Not deployed in Punjab yet

Rajasthan

One person was admitted to Bangar District Hospital following suspected anaphylaxis.[24]

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu received 5,36,000 doses of Covishield and 20,000 doses of Covaxin.[50]

Uttarkhand

One person was admitted to hospital following complications, but was later discharged.[24]

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Footnotes
  1. Pfizer applied for Emergency Use Approval (EUA) to the Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI), but did not appear to present its case to the Expert Committee despite three opportunities
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