Going by expert opinion, India will not have to wait for a vaccine against Covid-19 for long and the first shots could be available in a matter of weeks, Prime Minister Narendra Modi told an all-party meeting called to discuss the pandemic situation.
The PM Modi said the pricing of the vaccine would be finalised keeping public health interests in mind and after deliberations with state governments. He strongly urged political leaders attending the meeting to dispel rumours about the vaccine and said unfounded claims would hurt the fight against the virus. His reference seemed to be the recent controversy over an adverse event during a vaccine trial and concerns over "vaccine hesitancy" in the wider public.
"Rollout of the vaccine will begin as soon as scientists wave the green flag," Modi said. He added that there were eight vaccines being developed that would be manufactured in India and referred to three homegrown initiatives. He expressed confidence that progress on the vaccine front had strengthened India's fight against the disease but emphasised that given the resurgence of Covid-19 in parts of the world, the need to use masks and observe hygiene would remain.
Health workers, elderly to receive first shots of vaccine
He broadly confirmed reports on India’s prioritisation plan for the vaccine, saying health and frontline workers and elderly people who are vulnerable to the virus would receive the shots first.
He said India’s policies were shaped by scientific and expert advice and this had yielded good results in terms of disease control, treatment and lower mortalities. This will continue to be the case, he added.
Modi said the Centre and state teams were working in close coordination on vaccine strategy. “India has vaccine distribution expertise and capacity. We are far better than several other countries in this regard. We have a vast and experienced vaccination network and the country will capitalise on these advantages,” he added.
The PM said some additional cold chain equipment and other logistics would be required, which would be evaluated with the help of state governments. “India has developed a special software, Covin, in which beneficiaries of vaccine, and real-time information about availability and storage of the vaccine will be available,” the PM said. “A special task force has been constituted for vaccine research with technical experts, officials from ministries concerned and officers from each zone,” he added.
Modi said the world was looking towards India for the development of a safe and affordable vaccine.
Political parties which participated in the meeting included Congress, Trinamool Congress, DMK, YSR Congress, JD(U), BJD, Shiv Sena, TRS, BSP, SP, AIADMK, NCP, JD(S) and BJP. The leaders assured the PM of their full support to ensure efficient and speedy vaccination.
“We not only helped our fellow Indians but also made every effort to save citizens of other countries as well. Also, the scientific methodology adopted by India led to increased testing in India, which not only reduced the positivity rate but also reduced the Covid mortality rate,” the PM said.
As of November 30, India was leading the world in the number of "confirmed Covid-19 vaccine doses" for which orders have been placed, having "concluded contracts to get 1.6 billion doses". The latest global vaccine procurement analysis by Duke University, which has been tracking advanced commitments between countries and vaccine developers, put the European Union second and the US third.
The EU will get 1.58 billion doses and the US will get over a billion doses, provided all the vaccine candidates they have struck deals to buy prove efficient in trials and are certified for use. Union health minister Harsh Vardhan had said in November that India was in talks with vaccine makers to get up to 500 million doses by July-August 2021.
An analysis by Duke University’s "Launch and Scale Speedometer", which is updated every two weeks, shows India has made deals for three global vaccine candidates upon them being ready and certified for use. The latest analysis of contracts by Duke University, based on publicly available data, puts the Oxford-AstraZeneca candidate on the top of the table, with 17 countries signing deals to procure 2.5 billion doses. This is followed by the US’s Novavax, which had deals for 1.3 billion doses of its vaccine as of November 30, while Sanofi-GSK has deals for 732 million doses. The Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, which this week became the first in the world to be approved for emergency use, has deals for 646 million doses.
Besides these, a domestic vaccine candidate by Bharat Biotech entered Phase 3 trials last week. "Given that all candidates showing promise need two doses of vaccination, theoretically India would need 2.6 billion doses to cover its population. But it isn’t practical to inoculate the whole country and, also, it isn’t required as once we cover over 60% of the population, we’ll see the disease being controlled," said Dr V Ravi, member of the expert committee on the Covid vaccine. "So, I think commitments of these many doses should suffice, and we also have some domestic candidates, like the one from Bharat Biotech."
