Adar Poonawalla lauds PM for getting COVID-19 vaccine jab, says "leading from the front"

Prime Minister Narendra Modi was administered Bharat Biotech's Covaxin on Monday. Of the many reactions that poured in hours after he was given the vaccination, one was of Adar Poonawalla, the Chief Executive Officer of Serum Institue of India (SII), which is responsible for manufacturing Covishield from Oxford AstraZeneca. 

Tweeting a picture of Narendra Modi taking a jab, Poonawalla expressed his pleasure seeing the PM coming forward and getting vaccinated. Highlighting that the vaccine administered is not a matter of concern and that the people can get the vaccine developed by his organization or any other vaccine developed in India, he urged the eligible citizens of the country to get vaccinated at the earliest. 

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COVID-19 Vaccines in India

At the beginning of 2021, India approved two vaccines- Covaxin and Covishield. Covaxin, developed by Hyderabad-based Bharat Biotech, is based on an inactivated whole SARS-CoV-2 virion. A virus's disease-producing capacity is inactivated in this method.

Covishield manufactured by SII from Oxford AstraZeneca stable, on the other hand, is based on the viral vector platform. A chimpanzee adenovirus called ChAdOxy is the vector that has been modified to carry the coronavirus spike protein into human cells.

The second phase of the COVID-19 vaccination drive begins today 

After the successful vaccination of healthcare and frontline workers in the first phase, India begins with the second phase of the vaccination drive today. In the second phase, 10,000 crore people across the country are estimated to be vaccinated in around 10,000 government health centres and 12,000 private centres. 

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As per MoHFW, People aged 60 years or more as on January 1, 2022, and those with comorbidities who are in the age group of 45-59 years as on January 1, 2022, are eligible for vaccination in this phase. States and districts will be required to pre-register COVID-19 Vaccination Centres (CVCs) on the Co-WIN2.0 portal before the registration is opened for people above 60 years and those aged 45 and above with co-morbidities so that the list of CVCs is available to the citizens, the Union Health Ministry had added

The registration begins today, March 1 at 9 am. The eligible beneficiaries can choose the centre of their choice and book an appointment based on the slots available.

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