Corona vaccination was launched in India on 16th January across 3,000 vaccination centres. Coronavirus is a contagious disease caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2. The first case was identified in Wuhan, China at the end of year 2019. Since then the virus has spread worldwide. There are many symptoms of CoronaVirus ranging from mild to severe illness. Many infected people develop mild to severe symptoms while some do not see any noticeable symptoms at any point of time. Covid-19 vaccine is intended to provide acquired immunity against virus causing disease. 

India's drug regulatory agency has given green light to COVID-19 vaccine named Covishield and Covaxin. Covaxin is a government backed vaccine developed by Bharat Biotech. Whereas, Covishield is manufactured locally by Serum Institute of India. Each vaccination centre will offer either of them but not both. Most of the states in India are giving preference to Covishield and keeping Covaxin for buffer stock as Covaxin has not completed phase-3 trials. Those who receive Covaxin dose will have to sign a signed consent form. 



The main concern for the government is that the drive of vaccination has been slowed down by low turnout. This is happening due to multiple concerns of the public about safety of the vaccine, technical problems of the software used and misinformation.

After the launch of vaccines in India, healthcare and frontline workers are the first ones to receive COVID-19 Vaccine in Phase-1 of the vaccination. In Phase-2, citizens above 60 years and those aged from 45 years to 60 years having comorbid  conditions will be vaccinated. Phase-2 vaccination has been started in India from 1st March, 2021 onward. Phase-2 will cover 10 crore people across the country. In Phase-3 the rest of the population of the country will be vaccinated.

The COVID-19 vaccine will be free in government hospitals and paid at private facilities. The price of vaccines at private hospitals is ₹250 per shot.




COVID-19 Vaccines global access also known as COVAX is a global initiative which ensures equitable access of vaccines. This initiative is led by Gavi, the Vaccine alliance. Gavi is a public-private global health partnership with the goal of increasing access to immunisation in poor countries. Rich countries like London have immunised its population against COVID-19, poorer nations have fallen behind in this biggest vaccination campaign in history.

COVAX is a part of Access to COVID-19 tools (ACT) accelerator, a framework for global collaboration. ACT is made up of three pillars Diagnostic, therapeutic and vaccines, according to WHO. COVAX will act as a platform for research, development and manufacturing of worldwide range of vaccine candidates and negotiate the pricing. By joining COVAX platform, all participating countries and economies either rich or poor, will have access to the portfolio of COVID-19 vaccines, once they are developed and proven to be safe and effective. India is also the part of international alliance Gavi's coronavirus global vaccine access drive.