COVID-19 Vaccination: 4,000 Troops Deployed In Ladakh To Be First Among Indian Army's Personnel To Get The Jabs

As many as 4,000 soldiers, military doctors and nurses deployed in Ladakh are set to be the first set of armed forces personnel to get vaccinated against COVID-19 disease and around 12,000 vaccine doses have been dispatched to Ladakh for the purpose, reports Times of India.

More soldiers, including the ones deployed on the frontline at various friction points in Eastern Ladakh, will be vaccinated as the campaign picks up over time.

This comes as India is set to embark on the world’s largest vaccination drive against COVID-19 today (16 January). For the nationwide vaccination drive, two vaccines have been accorded emergency use authorisation (EUA) by the government, Covishield and Covaxin.

While Covishield has been developed by the University of Oxford and pharmaceutical major AstraZeneca, Adar Poonawalla led Pune-based Serum Institute of India (SII) is manufacturing the same in India.

Meanwhile, Covaxin vaccine has been entirely indigenously developed in India by Hyderabad based Bharat Biotech in collaboration with the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR).