Light at the end of the tunnel has kept millions going through the challenging times of a pandemic. It's been over a year since our lives took a drastic turn, our lifestyles changed completely, and new norms became a part of our routines. Amidst all this, the hope remained that once the vaccines are ready and rolled out for masses, we can all bring back normalcy that we knew before the COVID pandemic.

India has been fighting the ultimate battle against the virus, and despite the unfortunate deaths and inability to control the spread of the virus effectively, the country has overcome major challenges and obstacles in bringing the vaccine for all. To this day, millions of people have been vaccinated, many received their two doses as well. But all this did not just happen overnight.

Covishield Vaccine

Timeline of important decisions w.r.t COVID vaccines

Here's a timeline of some of the most important decisions taken by the central government to speed up the vaccination drive in India.

April 29, 2020 COVID task-force was set up to provide support to any possible vaccine rollouts in future
May 5, 2020 PM Modi chaired meeting with Task Force on COVID vaccine, hurdles faced by vaccine manufacturers were cleared
May 17, 2020 Grassroot execution of streamlined and responsive framework to bolster vaccine production
June 13, 2020 SII signs deal with AstraZeneca to exclusive manufacture its vaccine in India
June 30, 2020 PM Modi enunciated four guiding principles to form the foundation of the national effort.
  • Vaccinate vulnerable groups first
  • Vaccination of "anyone, anywhere"
  • Vaccines to be affordable, universal
  • Support, monitor vaccine production in real-time
June 30, 2020 Creation of a tech platform that would complement vaccination at scale across the nation - CoWIN as we know it today
July 21, 2020 SII committed to few million vaccine doses by Nov-Dec 2020, 300 million doses by March 2021. Vaccine got its name - Covidshield
August 12, 2020 Govt sets up National Expert Group on Vaccine Administration for COVID-19 (NEGVAC), met for first time
September 27, 2020 India supported global community by exporting vaccines to save millions around the world
October 15, 2020 PM Modi reviewed vaccine research and development, reiterated support for vaccine development ecosystem
October 17, 2020 PM Modi reviewed COVID situation in India, vaccine preparedness, delivery, distribution and administration
November 20, 2020 PM Modi reviewed India's vaccination strategy, including issues like prioritization of population groups, reaching out to HCWs, cold-chain Infrastructure augmentation, adding vaccinators and tech platform for vaccine roll-out
November 28, 2020 PM Modi visited vaccine plants, reviewed progress and next course of action
December 7, 2020 SII applies for emergency use authorization for the first made-in-India vaccine, COVISHIELD
January 3, 2021 DCGI grants approval to vaccines of Serum Institute and Bharat Biotech - India's first vaccines approved and ready for rollout
January 12, 2021 First shipments of Covidshield vaccines left to multiple locations
January 16, 2021 Worlds largest vaccination drive started with frontline workers, 50+ and under-50 age group with co-morbidities.

So far, India has administered 26.86 crore doses of COVID vaccines with around 23.43 percent of the adult population receiving at least one dose.

Also Read