Many countries the world over, like the USA, UK, Canada, Bahrain and others, began administering the COVID vaccines for their citizens, after the companies which manufactured these proven vaccines obtained the Emergency Use Approval. These vaccination drives began in the month of December itself, last year. However, the questions on the minds of all Indians were, "When would the vaccine be ready for distribution in India? When would the COVID vaccination drive begin in India?" There were a number of speculations in this regard and the Union Government also began conducting dry runs for the vaccination drives across the nation, and had also issued an Operational Procedure for this, to the state governments. Earlier today, while addressing the crowd for the Pravasi Bharatiya Divas, our Prime Minister Narendra Modi had stated that India was ready to help humanity by sharing with the world, doses of the two Indian-manufactured COVID vaccines - Covaxin and Covishield!

Now, in some great news for all Indians, we have reports that a high-level committee chaired by the PM Modi himself has decreed that the vaccination drive against COVID in India, would begin from January 16th! This date has been chosen as it would be just after the festivals of Pongal, Sankranti, Lohri and other similar festivals across the country, are over. We hear that 3 Crore Indians would be vaccinated in the first phase of the vaccination drive and priority would be given to frontline workers and the healthcare workers! Following them would be the aged people (people over 50) and those below 50 with co-morbidities. Reports state that the estimated number of people within these categories itself, would amount to over 27 crores.

Reports state that PM Modi would have a virtual meeting with the Chief Ministers of all the states on Monday, to set off the tone for the vaccination drive. The COVID numbers in India stand at 10,432,526 cases so far with the death toll standing at 150,835. Maharashtra is the most affected state in India, followed by Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh. Next come Tamil Nadu and Kerala. Though the number of daily cases have come down a lot, the numbers in some states are still worrisome. India is the second worstly affected nation by COVID, in the world, behind only the USA. The rollout of the COVID vaccine, would definitely help in controlling the panic that has arisen recently due to the detection of the new mutated strains of the Corona Virus as well as the concerns over when the vaccination would begin in India. The Central Government has also developed a platform called Co-WIN to help people register themselves for the vaccine and also to provide electronic certificates for the same. Stay tuned for updates...