PHOTOS: The World's Biggest Vaccine Campaign Has Begun In India

Outside a train station in rural India, wiry men in flip-flops rake rotting coconuts and soiled plastic wrappers onto burlap tarps, then sling them into the back of an idling truck. They start toiling at dawn, sometimes scooping trash with bare hands, for a monthly full-time wage of about $95.

But there's at least one thing these men say they feel lucky about: As sanitation workers, they're among the first Indians eligible to get the coronavirus vaccine.

Last month, India launched what Prime Minister Narendra Modi calls the biggest vaccination drive in the world. It aims to inoculate 300 million by mid-summer, though it'll take at least two more years to vaccinate all of the nearly 1.4 billion people in India.

The first phase, now underway, covers all health and frontline workers – about 30 million people – including doctors, nurses, police officers and trash collectors.

"I never felt scared of the virus," says sanitation worker Ramesh Solanki, who wears a tidy teal uniform with orange trim and a Hindu talisman on a string around his neck. "I've been out working the whole time, even during the lockdown. The government is making decisions with our well-being in mind."