Mridul Das, a 30-year-old doctor, was the first person to get the COVID-19 vaccine in Tripura on Saturday, PTI reported. 1,399 health workers received the Covishield vaccine on the first day.

The vaccination programme in the state began at 17 sites across eight districts, officials said to the news agency.

Tripura has received 56,500 doses of the vaccine, it said.

Dr. Das who is serving at a government hospital in West Tripura's Mohanpur said, "Scientists did several trials and experiments. If we don"t trust the vaccine that means we don"t trust our scientists. We need to trust them".

So far no reports of any effects of the vaccine has been recorded in the state.