New Delhi:
India might start vaccinating individuals for COVID-19 in January, Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan has mentioned, adding that the government’s priority has been the security and efficacy of the vaccine.
“I personally feel may be in January in any stage or any week, there can be a time when we can be in a position to give first Covid vaccine shot to the people of India,” Harsh Vardhan told news agency ANI in an interview.
The minister mentioned that the vaccines that have applied for emergency use authorisation are becoming analysed by the drug regulator.
“India is not less than any country when it comes to COVID-19 vaccine and research. Our priority has been the safety and efficacy of the vaccine. We do not want any compromise on that. Our regulators are analysing them with seriousness,” he mentioned.
The minister had mentioned on Saturday that the country’s scientists and well being professionals have worked on an indigenous vaccine and in the subsequent six to seven months, India will have the capacity to inoculate about 30 crore individuals.
“Our scientists and health experts have worked on the development of a vaccine by genome sequencing and isolation of the coronavirus and developed an indigenous vaccine. In 6-7 months, we will have the capacity to inoculate about 30 crore people,” he had mentioned, addressing a ministers’ meeting on COVID-19.
There are six COVID-19 vaccine candidates in distinct clinical trial stages in India which includes Covishield, Covaxin, ZyCoV-D, Sputnik V, NVX-CoV2373 and a recombinant protein antigen-primarily based vaccine.
Besides this, 3 COVID-19 vaccine candidates are in the pre-clinical stage of which one particular is in the pre-improvement stage, Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan mentioned.
Earlier this month, the United Kingdom became the 1st nation in the globe to authorise the use of Pfizer and BioNTech for emergency purposes.
(With inputs from ANI)