In a major leap in India’s public health history, Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi launched the COVID-19 vaccine drive in the country, the world’s largest vaccination drive so far.

The first day of the massive countrywide COVID-19 vaccination program was conducted successfully. 

A total of 3,352 sessions were held wherein 1,91,181 beneficiaries were vaccinated as per the provisional reports. Additional 3,429 beneficiaries were vaccinated in Defence institutions. As many as 16,755 personnel were actively involved in organizing the immunization session sites.

No case of post-vaccination hospitalization has been reported, so far.

Two types of COVID-19 vaccines have been supplied for the vaccination drive:

• Covishield vaccine (made by Serum Institute of India Ltd) has been supplied to all States/UTs.
• Covaxin vaccine (made by Bharat Biotech International Ltd) has been supplied to 12 States.

Speaking on the occasion of launch of vaccination drive on 16.1.2021,PM Shri Narendra Modi said that those who need the vaccine the most will get it first.

Those who are at the maximum risk of getting infected will be vaccinated first. He said, our doctors, nurses, hospital sanitation workers and para-medical staff will have the first right to get vaccinated. This priority is available to the medical hospitals in both public and private sectors. The Prime Minister was speaking after launching the pan-India rollout of COVID-19 vaccination drive via video conferencing today.

After the medical staff, the Prime Minister said, the members of essential services, and those responsible for country’s security and law and order will be vaccinated. Our security forces, police personnel, fire brigade, sanitation workers will be given priority. This number will be nearly 3 crore and Government of India will bear the expense of their vaccination, said the Prime Minister.

While elaborating on the robust arrangements for the drive, the Prime Minister cautioned the people to be careful about not missing taking two doses. He said that there will be a gap of one month between the doses. He asked people to keep their guards up even after taking the vaccine as only two weeks after taking the second dose, human body will develop necessary immunity against Corona.

Adequate quantities of vaccines and logistics were ensured at all COVID-19 vaccination session sites across the country. Minor issues such as some delay in uploading of beneficiary list at some session sites were successfully resolved.

State/UT

Session

Beneficiaries

A & N Islands

225

Andhra Pradesh

18412

Arunachal Pradesh

829

Assam

3528

Bihar

18169

Chandigarh

265

Chhattisgarh

5592

Dadra & Nagar Haveli

80

Daman & Diu

43

Delhi

4319

Goa

426

Gujarat

10787

Haryana

5589

Himachal Pradesh

1517

Jammu & Kashmir

2044

Jharkhand

3096

Karnataka

13594

Kerala

8062

Ladakh

79

Lakshadweep

21

Madhya Pradesh

9219

Maharashtra

18328

Manipur

585

Meghalaya

509

Mizoram

314

Nagaland

561

Odisha

13746

Puducherry

274

Punjab

1319

Rajasthan

9279

Sikkim

120

Tamil Nadu

2945

Telangana

3653

Tripura

355

Uttar Pradesh

21291

Uttarakhand

2276

West Bengal

9730

India (Total)

191181

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