One in five Indians to be vaccinated against COVID-19 by July 2021
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The Government of India has said that one in five Indians is likely to be vaccinated by July 2021. This means that in the next 8 months, at least 25 crore Indians will be administered the COVID-19 vaccine
The Government of India has said that one in five Indians is likely to be vaccinated by July 2021. This means that in the next 8 months, at least 25 crore Indians will be administered the COVID-19 vaccine.
India's Health Minister Harsh Vardhan has confirmed that Indian states have been asked to prepare a list of priority population groups. According to reports, this list would include frontline health workers- like doctors, nurses, paramedics, surveillance officers etc.
India has pre-ordered the following vaccines: Novavax's candidate, Oxford-Astrazeneca's shot, and Sputnik V Which is being developed by Russia's Gamaleya Research Institute.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has said that India may now start producing Sputnik V.
“BRICS members were able to react quickly and take concrete measures to combat the pandemic. I would like to note that the Russian direct investment fund has concluded agreements with Indian and Brazilian partners to conduct clinical trials of sputnik v vaccine, as well as with pharmaceutical companies in China and India to open centres for the production of our vaccine in these countries, not only for their own needs but also for third parties”, Russian President Putin said.
India is in talks with Pfizer which just announced an important revision for its vaccine candidate b-n-t162. The company has said that its vaccine is 95 per cent effective, as opposed to the earlier estimate of 90 per cent efficacy.
The revision is based on the final results from Pfizer's late-stage trial. The problem, however, with Pfizer is its storing temperature.
The shot needs to be stored at -70 to -80 degrees celsius. This makes not just the storage, but also the distribution of the vaccine difficult.
India's health minister has said that states have been asked to submit details of cold chain and related infrastructure.
The following vaccines are being tested in India: The Oxford-Astrazeneca shot whose phase 3 trials are being conducted by India's Serum Institute. Biotech's Covaxin is also in phase 3, as is Russia's Sputnik V. Then there is Zydus Cadila's shot which has almost completed phase 2 trails, and Biological E’s candidate..