10 million health workers first group in India to get COVID-19 vaccines

NEW DELHI, Nov. 24 (Xinhua) -- Ten million frontline healthcare workers will be the first people to receive vaccination against the COVID-19 pandemic once the vaccine is available, a local newspaper Indian Express said Tuesday.

The newspaper quoting its sources said a vaccination group of approximately 10 million health workers have been identified.

"We have moved into an advance stage of building a database for the first priority group - frontline healthcare workers - who will receive the first dose during the immunization drive, if and when a particular vaccine is cleared by the Indian regulator for commercial use," the newspaper quoted its sources in the expert group on vaccine administration as saying.

"We have received a substantial response from the states. Ninety-two percent of all government hospitals across all states have provided data. Around 56 percent of private-sector hospitals have provided data," the source said.

Development of COVID-19 vaccine is still in progress.

[link to www.xinhuanet.com]