The coronavirus vaccine might be ready by the first quarter of 2021, Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan on Sunday announced even as he said that no date has been fixed for the vaccine launch. And in a bid to allay fears regarding the safety aspect of the vaccines, he offered to take the first dosage of vaccine himself to remove any trust deficit among people.
“The Government is also considering emergency authorisation of Covid-19 vaccination to senior citizens and people working in high-risk settings. This shall be done after a consensus has been reached,” he said adding that the vaccine would be first made available to those who need it the most, irrespective of their paying capacity.
The National Expert Group on Vaccine Administration for Covid-19 is drawing up a detailed strategy on how to immunise the majority of the population, he said during the ‘Sunday Samvad’ programme where he interacted with his social media followers and answered their questions.
Dr Harsh Vardhan also assured that the Government is taking full precautions in conducting the human trials of the vaccine.
“Issues like vaccine security, cost, equity, cold-chain requirements, production timelines, etc, are also being discussed intensely,” he said and assured the vaccine would be first made available to those who need it the most, irrespective of their paying capacity.
His statement regarding adminisration of vaccine came in the wake of an incident in the UK where one of the participants in the ongoing trial of the University of Oxford’s vaccine candidate developed a severe complication right after being administered its dose.
The coronavirus tally in India crossed the 47 lakh-mark with 94,732 new cases reported in the last 24 hours.