India’s COVID-19 vaccination drive: Who will get the jab and when

COVID-19 woes may be coming to an end in India as the country is all set to begin a vaccination drive against the deadly virus from January 16. Around three crore frontline and healthcare workers will be inoculated in the first phase.

The Indian vaccination drive is planned in three stages as government plans to spread out the vaccine rollout. It will take some time for the vaccine to reach general population.

Here is who will receive the vaccine and when:

Phase 1: In the first phase of the vaccination drive, starting on January 16,  the health care workers working for both government and private sectors will be vaccinated.

The frontline workers working in the police and paramilitary services, sanitation workers, volunteers involved in disaster management, home guards will also be vaccinated in the first phase as will the jawans in civil defence and workers involved in containment and surveillance.

Phase 2: The second phase will cover citizens above the age of 50 and the under-50 population with underlying comorbidities.The government has set a target of getting nearly 27 crore people vaccinated during the second phase.

Phase 3: It is in the third phase that the general population will get access to the vaccine. In this phase, both government and private channels will be available for vaccination. By this time, many more vaccine candidates may get approval so this process may help accelerate the end of the pandemic.