The health minister’s comments come in the light of several candidate drugs entering the final phase of testing and trials.
Union Health Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan on Sunday said the government plans to provide Covid vaccines to around 25 crore (250 million) people – of the country’s 130 crore (1.3 billion) – by July 2021. The health minister also added that the government would receive between 400 and 500 million vaccine doses for this purpose and that it would ensure “equitable access”.
State and UT governments had been advised to send details of “priority population groups” by the end of October for the sections of the population that will be first in line to receive the vaccine, Dr Harsh Vardhan said.
“Vaccine procurement is being done centrally and each consignment will be tracked in real time. Priority will be given to frontline health care workers,” the minister said during ‘Sunday Samvaad, his weekly social media interaction with the public.
“The government is offering full support to Indian vaccine manufacturers and is commited to taking all measures to ensure equitable access to the vaccine,” he added.
The health minister’s comments come in the light of several candidate drugs entering the final phase of testing and trials. India is testing three potential vaccines, including Covishield which was developed jointly by the University of Oxford and pharma giant AstraZeneca.
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