Prime Minister Narendra Modi is set to launch India’s COVID-19 vaccination drive in a virtual launch at 10.30 AM on Saturday. A total of 3,006 session sites across all states and union territories will be connected as the Prime Minister and around 100 beneficiaries will be vaccinated at each site.

India’s vaccination programme, hailed as the world’s biggest, aims at inoculating over three lakh healthcare workers on the first day as the government said, “The drive is probably the beginning of the end of COVID-19.”

Modi said the country on Saturday would enter a ‘decisive phase’ in the fight against the coronavirus pandemic.

“Tomorrow, January 16, India begins the pan-India rollout of COVID-19 Vaccination drive. The launch will take place at 10:30 AM tomorrow morning,” he tweeted.

As states get ready for a mass distribution in phases, the Maharashtra government announced that as many as 4,000 health workers will be administered COVID-19 vaccine every day at nine vaccination centres in Mumbai. Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray will launch the vaccination drive from a centre at Bandra Kurla Complex on Saturday, the BMC stated in an official release. Punjab’s Chief Minister Amrinder Singh also acknowledged the receipt of 2,04,500 doses of Covishield vaccine and also thanked the prime minister for making this vaccine available on priority to healthcare workers (HCWs).

In Delhi, the drive will kick off from the state-run LNJP Hospital with a simple ceremony in the presence of Chief Minister Kejriwal and Health Minister Satyendar Jain. Medical superintendents of government hospitals at Ahmedabad and Gandhinagar will be among the first to get the shots in Gujarat, where over 16,000 health workers will be vaccinated during the day. In Assam, an estimated 6,500 people of the 1.9 lakh health workers will be vaccinated on the first day.

On the eve of the roll-out, Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan reviewed the preparations and visited the dedicated COVID control room set up at the Nirman Bhawan premises of the health ministry. The vaccination drive has been planned in a phased manner, identifying priority groups. Healthcare workers, both in government and private sectors including ICDS (Integrated Child Development Services) workers, will receive the vaccine during this phase, the health ministry said in a statement.

An online digital platform Co-WIN, developed by the health ministry, will be used to drive the vaccination programme.

Adequate doses of both Covishield and Covaxin have already been delivered to all states and union territories.

A dedicated 24×7 call centre — 1075 — has also been set up for addressing queries related to the COVID-19 pandemic, vaccine roll-out and the Co-WIN software.

According to the government, the shots will be offered first to an estimated one crore healthcare workers, and around two crore frontline workers, and then to persons above 50 years of age, followed by persons younger than 50 years of age with associated comorbidities.

Cost of vaccination of healthcare and frontline workers will be borne by the central government.