India readies roll-out of COVID-19 vaccines for 300 million people

Health workers prepare a vaccination room inside a classroom of a school, which has been converted into a temporary COVID-19 vaccination centre in Ahmedabad, India, January 4, 2021. REUTERS/Amit Dave

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - India is set to roll out a COVID-19 vaccination programme by next week, aiming to cover 300 million people by July, its top health official said in what would be one of the world's largest inoculation drives against the coronavirus.

Authorities have readied some 29,000 cold storage facilities across the country and large scale vaccination dry-runs have been conducted in 125 districts encompassing all states, federal health secretary Rajesh Bhushan said on Tuesday.