Coronavirus: India Being Ready for Its Massive Vaccine Drive

India will launch what will be one of the world's largest inoculation programs on 16 January, aimed at protecting its 1.3 billion population against Covid-19.

By early August, the government plans to vaccinate 300 million individuals. An expected 10 million health staff, followed by police, troops, municipal and other frontline workers, will begin the process, reports BBC.

People aged over 50 and those under 50 with significant underlying health problems will be next in line for the jab.

The second-highest number of Covid-19 infections in the world was reported by India, after the US. It has reported more than 10.3 million cases and over 150,000 deaths since the pandemic started.

The country's drugs regulator has given the green light to two vaccines - Covishield that has been developed by AstraZeneca with Oxford University and Covaxin by local firm Bharat Biotech.