Confident that Covid-19 vaccine will be ready in 3-4 months, says Union Health Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan

Noting that it is natural to prioritise the Covid-19 vaccine distribution process, Health Minister Harsh Vardhan on Thursday said healthcare workers and people aged above 65 years will be given coronavirus vaccine on priority.

Addressing the FICCI FLO's National Webinar on 'The Shifting Healthcare Paradigm During and Post-Covid', Vardhan said coronavirus vaccine will be available in a couple of months and it is estimated that by July-August, 400-500 million vaccine doses will be made available for 25-30 crore people.

"I am confident that the Covid-19 vaccine will be ready in the next three-four months," he said.

"It is natural that the vaccine distribution would have to be prioritised. As you know the healthcare workers who are corona warriors will be prioritised, then people who are above 65 years of age, they have been prioritised and then those from 50-65 years of age have been prioritised. Then those below 50 years who have other diseases," he said.

Vardhan said everything is being decided by experts with a scientific point of view.

"We have made a very detailed meticulous plan on this," he said.

"What we would have to do in March-April next year, we have started planning for it from now only," Vardhan said.

The minister said, "We have also initiated an integrated response system against Covid-19 and will also host clinical trials for all the major vaccines. About 20 vaccines are in different stages of development."

He said about 90-99 per cent tackling of Covid-19 is only through protecting and motivating others.

"You can protect yourself from this deadly virus with small precautions like wearing a good quality mask properly, maintaining social distance and taking care of hand-hygiene," he noted.

The phase-3 trial of the Oxford vaccine of the Serum Institute is almost near completion, while the phase-3 clinical trial of the indigenously-developed vaccine candidate of the Bharat Biotech and the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) has already started.

Dr Reddy's Laboratories will also soon start the combined phase 2 and 3 clinical trials of the Russian Covid-19 vaccine, Sputnik V, in India.