India's first batch of SARS-CoV-2 vaccines for 300 million people is full of challenges from logistics to safety

 Reporter : Fei Zhen / Editor : Song Yue / https://www.soundofhope.org/post/464570 / Direct translation

India launched the world's largest COVID-19 vaccination program on 16 January, and is expected to complete the vaccination of 300 million people by the end of July this year. Indian Prime Minister Modi and New Delhi Mayor Kriwar expressed confidence in vaccine safety. However, in fact, India’s infrastructure is weak, and the vaccine delivery process must be kept below 8 degrees Celsius. In addition, one of the vaccines administered has not yet completed clinical trials, and false news about various vaccines are circulating on the Internet, causing public concern. The outside world believes that India's large-scale and complex vaccination plan is quite difficult. The number of confirmed cases in India has so far reached more than 10.5 million, ranking second in the world and claiming more than 150,000 lives. India, with a total population of 1.3 billion, has carried out the world’s largest vaccination plan since yesterday. This first phase of the plan is to vaccinate about a quarter of the country’s population and about 300 million people, including first-line anti-epidemic medical personnel, People over 50 and high-risk groups such as diabetes. Since the epidemic has hit the Indian economy severely for more than a year, the authorities hope to complete the vaccination before the end of July, hoping that the vaccination will bring the epidemic to an end. In this regard, Indian Prime Minister Modi said through a video message on the morning of 16 January that India will start the world’s largest vaccination program. About 30 million people including medical staff and first-line anti-epidemic personnel will be vaccinated in the first round. About 270 million people over the age of 50 and high-risk groups have been vaccinated. Modi said that the vaccine made in India will ensure that India achieves a decisive victory in the fight against the CCP virus epidemic. The Mayor of New Delhi, Arvind Kejriwal, also emphasized the safety of vaccines in India after inspecting the vaccination work carried out by Lok Nayak Hospital yesterday. He said that the people who were vaccinated were very happy, and no one had any problems with the vaccine. Kriwar also said that there are currently 81 locations in New Delhi that implement vaccination work, and in the future it will increase to 1,000 locations based on the vaccination situation. It also showed his confidence in these two vaccines. A doctor, Deepak Bhardwaj, who works at Lok Nayake Hospital, said that administering the CCP virus vaccine is like administering a general vaccine. He observed for 45 minutes after the vaccination, and there were no symptoms and everything was fine. Badwaji also stated that each drug and vaccine has a little side effect. It is difficult to say how effective or adverse side effects of the two vaccines are. It will take some time to observe, but he believes that the two approved vaccines It is absolutely safe. Another doctor, Anubhav Sharma, who was vaccinated at Lok Nayake Hospital yesterday, also said that the vaccine administered in India is a “zero virus vaccine”. Based on his knowledge and understanding of vaccines, this is a very Safe vaccine. According to Agence France-Presse, the Indian authorities have approved two vaccines, one is Covishield produced by the Serum Institute of India and developed by the British pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca, and the other is Covaxin indigenous vaccine developed by Bharat Biotech in cooperation with other institutions. Since the local vaccine has not yet submitted the Phase 3 clinical trial data, the vaccine safety has been questioned. In this regard, Modi emphasized that the Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) was satisfied with the experimental data of the two vaccines. Approve emergency use and call everyone to stay away from rumours. He said that India’s vaccine developers have a global reputation, and the vaccine produced in India is cheaper than other vaccines in the world. According to reports, in order to prevent vaccines from being stolen and sold to the largest drug black market in India, the authorities arranged for armed police to protect each vaccine delivery truck, and installed monitors in the storage warehouses, and even staff who entered had to be fingerprinted. The Times of India reported that the vaccine storage temperature will also be monitored through an automated data logger, and the information will be sent to the central unit every 3 seconds. Agence France-Presse quoted Indian public health expert Preeti Kumar as saying that the importance of vaccine safety measures is not only to resolve logistics and safety concerns, but also to build public confidence and make them believe that the vaccine has reached the distribution base. The supply chain is intact, undamaged and safe.