Coronavirus: India launches its gigantic vaccination campaign
Audio 01:16
Vaccination began this Saturday, January 16 in India, as here in Bombay.
REUTERS - FRANCIS MASCARENHAS
Text by: RFI Follow
4 min
India launched this Saturday, January 16 its gigantic vaccination campaign, one of the largest in the world, for its entire population of 1.3 billion people.
The government's objective is already to inoculate the vaccine to the most vulnerable inhabitants, or 300 million people, in the first six months.
The first weeks are reserved for the 30 million doctors and nurses exposed to Covid-19.
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From our correspondent in New Delhi
,
Sébastien Farcis
Two vaccines are used, including an Indian, which was urgently authorized even before the end of clinical trials.
Dhavan Dwivedi looks delighted.
This 35-year-old nurse from the AIIMS public hospital in New Delhi, was one of the first to receive a dose of the anti-Covid-19 vaccine from the Indian laboratory Bharat Biotech.
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“
I am proud of my doctors and researchers, and the scientists who have worked tirelessly to develop this vaccine.
This so that I can receive a vaccine made in India.
So I was vaccinated with confidence and I will encourage others to do like me, to eradicate this virus,
”he said.
Completely safe vaccine
The Minister of Health assures that this Indian vaccine is completely safe but it is difficult to prove its effectiveness, because it was approved before the end of clinical trials.
The other employees of the AIIMS hospital remain cautious.
"
As we work in health, the administration expects us to be vaccinated quickly, but it is not mandatory, so I will wait until we have more figures on the effectiveness of vaccines on the Indian population,
”said one of them.
The Indian laboratory Bharat Biotech assures that it will pay compensation to patients who suffer from serious side effects.
An association of doctors in the public sector has demanded to receive the vaccine from Oxford, Astra Zeneca, also used by India today, but especially distributed in the private sector.
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