The nationwide Covid-19 vaccination drive in India will begin from January 16, the government said on Saturday.

India will start its COVID-19 vaccination drive from Jan. 16 with priority given to about 30 million healthcare and frontline workers, a government statement said on Saturday.

The announcement to begin the mass vaccination drive from next week comes after Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday chaired a high-level meeting to review Covid-19 situation in the country.

At the meeting, PM Narendra Modi reviewed the preparedness of the States and Union Terriroties for Covid-19 vaccination. The meeting was attended by Cabinet Secretary, Principal Secretary to PM, Health Secretary, and other senior officials concerned.

PM Narendra Modi was also briefed about the preparedness status of the Center in close collaboration with the State and UT governments for roll out of the vaccines. Earlier, the Drug Controller General of India (DCGI) had granted AstraZeneca's Covishield and Bharat Biotech's Covaxin emergency use approval.

At the meeting, PM Narendra Modi was also apprised about the Co-WIN Vaccine Delivery Management System. The unique digital platform will provide real time information of vaccine stocks, their storage temperature and individualized tracking of beneficiaries of the Covid-19 vaccine. This platform will assist the  program managers across all levels through automated session allocation for pre-registered beneficiaries, their verification and for generating a digital certificate upon successful completion of the vaccine schedule. Over 79 lakh beneficiaries have already been registered on the platform.