Covid-19 vaccination: From India to Morocco, here’s where some countries stand

The fight against the coronavirus pandemic is well and truly underway as several countries have either started vaccination drives or have given approval to shots against Covid-19. Few others have signed agreements for vaccine delivery while some are still in the process of testing candidates.

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As the fight against the pandemic reaches a crucial stage, here’s where different countries stand with regards to their vaccination drives:

1. In India, the Union ministry of health and family welfare (MoHFW) said on Friday it has planned a two-day dry run in four states of Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Gujarat and Punjab next week. The dry run will take place on December 28 and 29, and will include necessary data entry in Co-WIN, an online platform for monitoring of vaccine delivery, the ministry said.

2. Ireland on Friday said that it had approved the Pfizer-BioNTech SE vaccine, with health minister Stephen Donnelly announcing that the first batch of vaccines is expected to arrive on December 26. Donnelly further said that the vaccination drive will begin next Wednesday.

3. The British government on Thursday said that more than 600,000 people have been vaccinated since immunisation drive began on December 8. Till December 20, the government said, 616,933 people had been vaccinated against Covid-19. The United Kingdom was the world’s first country to start a full-fledged vaccination drive, having approved the Pfizer-BioNTech SE vaccine earlier this month.

4. Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau tweeted on Thursday that the country had received the first batch of Moderna’s Covid-19 vaccine, just a day after approving it. These, Trudeau said, were a part of the 168,000 doses that Canada will get from Moderna before the end of the month, as well as part of the total 40 million doses guaranteed to it by the American drug maker. Canada has already started the vaccination drive of Pfizer’s candidate.

5. Mexico and Chile on Thursday joined the list of countries which have started vaccination drives. Both countries have approved the Pfizer-BioNTech SE vaccine. 59-year-old Maria Irene Ramirez and 46-year-old Zulema Riquelme became the first citizens in Mexico and Chile respectively to receive a vaccine shot.

6. Turkey on Thursday said that late-stage trials of a vaccine developed by China’s Sinovac Biotech had shown that it was 91.25% effective. Researchers said that during the trials, no major side effects were seen, except for a case of an allergic reaction. On Wednesday, the same candidate was found to be more than 50% effective in Phase 3 trials in Brazil.

7. Morocco’s health minister Khalid Ait Taleb on Thursday announced the acquisition of 65 million vaccine doses from China’s Sinopharm and UK’s Oxford-AstraZeneca. Preparations of the vaccination campaign are at an advanced stage, the minister further said.

(With agency inputs)

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