Centre never said entire country will be vaccinated against Covid-19, says Union Health Secretary

PM Modi had earlier said that the government is working towards a plan to make vaccine available to every Indian

The Centre has no plans to vaccinate every Indian citizen with the Covid-19 vaccine even when such shots would be commercially available, said a top government official.

“I want to make this clear that the government has never spoken about vaccinating the entire country. It’s important that we discuss such scientific issues, based on factual information only and then analyse it,” Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan said on Tuesday.

Balram Bhargava, ICMR director-general, clarified that inoculating the entire population would not be needed as the purpose is to break the chain of transmission.

“Our purpose is to break the chain of virus transmission. If we are able to vaccinate a critical mass of people and break the chain of transmission, then we may not have to vaccinate the entire population,” he said.

“The role of masks is also vitally important and that will continue even after the vaccination. Because we are starting with a small group of the population at a time and therefore masks will be protective and continue to be used so as to help in breaking the chain of viral transmission,” Bhargava said.

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It is to be mentioned here that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had earlier said that the government is working towards a plan to make vaccine available to every Indian whenever the vaccine is ready.

"The role of masks is also vitally important and that will continue even after the vaccination. Because we are starting with a small group of population at a time and therefore masks will be protective and continue to be used so as to help in breaking the chain of viral transmission," Bhargava said.

With multiple Covid-19 vaccines undergoing clinical evaluation in India, the Centre is gearing up for a mammoth exercise to inoculate millions of people, beginning with doctors and healthcare workers, with the vaccine.

One of the key question before the government is to decide whether to vaccinate those who has already been infected by the novel coronavirus. “Should the vaccination be preceded by antibody tests? Its a question before the National Expert Group on Vaccination but there is no final decision,” said Bhushan.

India’s Covid-19 tally stands at 94.62 lakh on Tuesday with 4,35 lakh active cases whereas the death toll is 1,37,621 of which 482 were added in the last 24 hours.