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Adar Poonawalla receives Covishield shot, wishes PM success in vaccine drive
PM Modi launched India's vaccination drive against the novel coronavirus via video conferencing.
Serum Institute of India (SII) CEO Adar Poonawalla on Saturday wished Prime Minister Narendra Modi success in launching the Covid-19 vaccination rollout in the country.
"I wish India and Sri Narendra Modi ji great success in launching the world's largest COVID vaccination roll-out. It brings me great pride that #COVISHIELD is part of this historic effort and to endorse its safety and efficacy, I join our health workers in taking the vaccine myself," Poonawalla tweeted.
Earlier in the day, PM Modi launched India's vaccination drive against the novel coronavirus via video conferencing.
India has granted emergency use authorisation to two vaccines -- Oxford's Covishield being manufactured by the Serum Institute in India and Bharat Biotech's Covaxin.
Billed as the world's largest vaccination program, covering the entire length and breadth of the country, the drive aims to first inoculate millions of its healthcare and frontline workers and reach an estimated 3 crore people by the end of its first phase.
On the first day of an immunisation campaign, that the government says is the biggest in the world, India aims to vaccinate around 300,600 people.
With a population of nearly 1.4 billion people, India is the world's most populous country after China, but the government says it will not have the vaccinate everyone to achieve herd immunity.
India, which has reported the highest number of coronavirus infections after the United States, and it plans to vaccinate around 300 million people with two doses in the first six to eight months of the year.
