President Ram Nath Kovind on Wednesday took the first dose of coronavirus vaccine at RR Hospital in the national capital. Several top political leaders, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and Health Minister Harsh Vardhan, have already taken the vaccines. President Kovind had earlier said it was a matter of immense pride that India is conducting the world's largest vaccination programme. "Both the vaccines rolled out under this programme are produced indigenously," he had said.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday became the first beneficiary in the second phase of nationwide vaccination against the coronavirus. The Prime Minister used the occasion for some heavy messaging as he took a dose of the home-grown Covaxin developed by Bharat Biotech and the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), which has been linked to vaccine hesitancy because of its clinical trials status. India, which has reported the highest number of COVID-19 cases after the United States, has so far administered over 1.48 crore doses of COVID-19 vaccines since starting its immunisation programme in January.