The National Vaccination Day is observed on March 16 every year. The day was first observed in 1995 to mark the start of India’s Pulse Polio Programme. The day is significant this year with respect to the country’s mass immunisation drive against the novel coronavirus. The virus causes the disease COVID-19 and has infected more than 11.4 million people in India and has claimed 158,856 lives.

Let’s take a look at India’s vaccination journey against COVID-19:

On June 30, 2020, India’s drug regulator approved ‘Covaxin’ for human trials. The jab thus became India’s indigenous COVID-19 vaccine that was developed at Bharat Biotech in Hyderabad. Its phase I clinical trial became a month later.

On August 26, Pune-based Serum Institute of India (SII) started clinical trials of ‘Covishield’, the coronavirus vaccine developed by British-Swedish pharmaceutical firm AstraZeneca, in collaboration with the University of Oxford.

On December 7, Bharat Biotech and Serum Institute applied for emergency use authorisation for their vaccines.

On December 28, the first dry run of the COVID-19 vaccine across four states — Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Gujarat and Punjab was held. A nationwide dry run was held on January 2.

The next day, India’s drug regulator granted the emergency use authorisation for Covaxin and Covishield.

Also read: A comparison of Covishield and Covaxin: COVID-19 vaccines approved by India

On January 8, a second dry run was conducted across the country.

India commenced phase I of its mass immunisation drive on January 16. Manish Kumar, a frontline sanitation worker became the first person to be vaccinated. He was administered the shot at AIIMS, Delhi.

Also read: In pictures: India launches nationwide vaccine drive against coronavirus

On March 1, the country began the second phase of the vaccination drive. Prime Minister Narendra Modi received the jab on day 1. He was administered a dose of Covaxin, the indigenous vaccine.

As on Tuesday, 32,947,432 people have received at least one dose of either of the two vaccines approved by India.