India expanded its COVID-19 vaccine coverage on Monday by including everyone over 60 and those aged between 45-59 who have co-morbidities in the net with Prime Minister Narendra Modi setting the pace by being the first person to take a jab.
Thousands of people queued up at government and private medical facilities across the country as the country further opened its vaccination programme that started on January 16 for healthcare and sanitary workers.
Amid reports of glitches and some people saying they were finding it difficult to navigate the Co-WIN 2.0 app to register and book an appointment, the Union Health ministry clarified to say the app on Play Store is meant for use only by administrators. Registration and booking for appointments has to be done through the portal, it said.
More than one million citizens were registered on the Co-WIN portal till 1 pm, the ministry said.
Though registration opened at 9 am, the prime minister was the first off the block. He visited the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) early in the morning to take his first dose and appeal to everyone eligible to get themselves inoculated.
“Took my first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine at AIIMS. Remarkable how our doctors and scientists have worked in quick time to strengthen the global fight against COVID-19,” Modi tweeted at 7.06 am.
“I appeal to all those who are eligible to take the vaccine. Together, let us make India COVID-19 free!” he said.
He received the indigenously developed Covaxin vaccine from Bharat Biotech. The other vaccine being administered in the country is Covishield from the Oxford-AstraZeneca stable.
Modi’s move to take the first dose of COVID-19 vaccine on the very first day of India opening up the inoculation drive should eliminate any hesitancy from the minds of people about the vaccine, AIIMS chief Dr Randeep Guleria said
He said AIIMS was informed about the prime minister’s visit to the hospital to take the vaccine only late Sunday night.
“As it was a week day, he chose to come early in the morning so as not to cause any inconvenience to patients at the hospital,” Guleria told PTI. As the vaccination programme got underway in other places across the country with hopes that it would help control the uptick in cases in several states, Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and his Odisha counterpart Naveen Patnaik also received their shots.