Days after granting emergency use approval to two Covid-19 vaccines, the Government of India has announced that the immunization drive will begin by January 13 or January 14. On Sunday, the Drug Controller General of India granted AstraZeneca’s Covishield and Bharat Biotech’s Covaxin emergency use approval.
Addressing a press conference on Tuesday, Union health secretary of India Rajesh Bhushan said that the Indian government was ready to roll out the vaccine drive within 10 days from approval. “Now since the approval has been granted, the vaccine drive will be rolled out within 10 days from that day [Sunday, January 3],” he said.
The first phase of immunization will focus on healthcare workers, emergency service employees, and the elderly.
Speaking to the media on Tuesday, Union health secretary Rajesh Bhushan said manufacturers will send doses of the vaccine to the Government Medical Store Department depots at Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata and Karnal in Haryana by air. The vaccine will then travel to 37 state vaccine stores from where it will go to district vaccine stores which will then supply primary health care centres, designated as Covid-19 immunisation centres.
India currently has 29,000 cold chain points where the approved vaccines Covishield and Covaxin can be stored safely, Union health secretary Rajesh Bhushan added.
Putting speculation to rest, Bharat Biotech and Serum Institute of India issued a joint statement on Tuesday expressing their “combined intent to develop manufacture and supply the Covid-19 vaccines for India and globally”. The statement went on to add, “We are fully aware of the importance of vaccines for people and countries alike, we hereby communicate our joint pledge to provide global access for our COVID-19 vaccines.”
Dr. Krishna Ella, Chairman and MD, Bharat Biotech told BusinessToday.In that the pharma giant can ready a Covid-19 vaccine for children aged between 2 and 12 in 3-4 months. “We have completed our phase-3 efficacy trials and will soon present a protocol to the regulators for children between two to 12 years of age for permission to conduct a clinical trial,” Dr Ella added.
Scientists revealed that the possibility of a person picking up SARS-CoV-2 in the air is directly related to the number of coronavirus-positive cases in the room, the load they are shedding and the duration of the exposure. These findings were the result of a study wherein air samples were collected from Hyderabad’s Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology and Chandigarh’s Institute of Microbial Technology, both hospitals where Covid-19 patients are being treated.
A member of the NITI Aayog and chairman of the Centre’s Covid-19 Vaccine Task Force, Dr VK Paul said on Tuesday, “We are hoping by July 2021 there will be enough vaccine supply to cover 30 crore people at least. Will people have the choice to take which vaccine they want when multiple vaccines are available? For example, if a vaccine has a contraindication on pregnancy, it will not be used. The first point is to reduce mortality.”
Interacting with the media on Tuesday, Union Health Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan said, “There are currently 30 vaccine candidates in India. They are all working in different stages. Three of these are in human clinical trials and four in the advanced preclinical phase. Two of these vaccines have also been approved for limited emergency use on the New Year.”
Source- India Today