Delhi sanitation worker receives India's first COVID-19 vaccine

Manish Kumar, a sanitation worker, became the first person in the Indian capital to be administered a COVID-19 vaccine during the launch of the nationwide vaccination programme at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences in the presence of Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan.

As people around applauded, AIIMS director Randeep Guleria also received a shot of the vaccine.

Vardhan said the two vaccines – the indigenous Covaxin from Bharat Biotech and Covishield from the Oxford/AstraZeneca stable - were a ‘sanjivani’, life infusing, in the fight against the pandemic.

"These vaccines are our ‘sanjivini’ in our fight  against  the pandemic. We have won the battle against polio and now we have reached the decisive phase of winning the war against Covid. I want to congratulate all frontline workers on this day," Vardhan told reporters shortly after the vaccine shots were administered.

According to the government, the shots will be offered first to an estimated one crore healthcare workers and around two crore frontline workers, and then to persons above 50 years of age, followed by persons younger than 50 years of age with associated comorbidities.

The cost of vaccination of healthcare and frontline workers will be borne by the central government.