Thirteen months after the first COVID-19 outbreak in China’s Wuhan, the wait for vaccination is finally over as the country is all set to begin the inoculation drive on Saturday. Frontline and healthcare workers will be among the first batch of three crore recipients of the vaccine in the first phase.

Just a day after Pune-based Serum Institute of India sent out batches of the Oxford COVID-19 vaccine ‘Covishield’ across the country, its rival Bharat Biotech International, a Hyderabad- based company also successfully shipped the first batches of their two-dose COVID-19 vaccine called ‘Covaxin’ to around 11 cities across the country.

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Prime Minister Narendra Modi had recently announced that the state governments will be exempted from bearing the cost, during the first phase of rolling out the vaccine.

Apart from the healthcare workers, the first phase will also cover frontline staff working in the police and paramilitary services, sanitation workers, volunteers involved in disaster management, home guards. The drive will also include jawans in civil defence and other revenue officials who are involved in ground work mostly associated with containment and surveillance.

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During the second phase of the mega vaccine drive, citizens above the age of 50 and groups with co-morbidities who fall in the under-50 population category will be served.

The government hopes to get nearly 27 crore people vaccinated during the second phase.

If the government achieves the proposed numbers at the end of both the phases, it would gain recognition for running the largest inoculation drive in the world against COVID-19.

The most important part during the vaccination drive is to identify and monitor those people who would fall under the first priority bar in getting vaccinated.

A digit platform called Co-Win will use the help of Aadhaar to identify and notify the beneficiaries about their timely dosage.

Once a person receives their first dose of the vaccine, Co-Win will generate a digital vaccination certificate that would hold the record and also remind the person on when to get their second dose. A final certificate will be issued once the person is served with both doses of the vaccine.

State governments were given strict orders to ensure that no misinformation regarding the vaccine is being circulated so as to ensure safety and efficiency.