Three crore Indians to get Covid-19 vaccine shots

After health workers, frontline workers including police personnel and the armed forces would receive it

India plans to roll out its Covid-19 vaccination campaign by inoculating nearly three crore individuals out of which one crore would be doctors and healthcare workers, top officials of the Union Health Ministry informed an all-party meeting in New Delhi on Friday.

The remaining two crore would mostly be frontline workers such as police, paramilitary forces, armed forces and fire service officials. A section of the elderly people with serious comorbidity conditions may also be considered in the initial round as indicated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who spoke at the meeting.

Modi said eight vaccines would be manufactured in India after a green signal from scientists, with prices being determined in consultation with states to keep them affordable.

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Over the last weekend, the PM met six Indian manufacturers who would make these eight vaccines after obtaining regulatory clearances. They are: Serum Institute of India, Bharat Biotech, Zydus Cadila, Gennova Biopharmaceuticals, Biological Evans and Dr Reddy’s Laboratory.

Serum Institute and Bharat Biotech will produce two vaccines each, subject to regulatory clearance. The first one off the block would be a two-dose vaccine made by Serum Institute with the same master-seed used in the Astra-Oxford vaccine.

The company had indicated that it would shortly approach the Drugs Controller General of India for emergency authorisation.

SII had claimed it would make 100 million doses immediately available for use in India while 400 million has been promised by July 2021.

Instead of universal vaccination as promised earlier, the Centre currently plans to vaccinate only a select group of people hoping to break the chain of transmission of the virus that has infected nearly 96 lakh Indians so far and killed in excess of 139,000.

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Modi said Covid-19 vaccines would be ready in the next few weeks and sought suggestions from state governments and political parties on the planned rollout.

Prominent leaders who attended the virtual meeting included former prime minister H D Deve Gowda, Congress leaders Ghulam Nabi Azad and Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, NCP supremo Sharad Pawar, Shiv Sena leader Vinayak Raut, Samajwadi Party leader Ram Gopal Yadav and DMK leader T R Baalu.

Chowdhury said it was noteworthy that the government was planning to vaccinate healthcare workers but there was no roadmap for inoculating 130 crore citizens.

Raut asked the Prime Minister to set up a monitoring committee to ensure that there were no irregularities in the vaccination drive whereas Yadav, who also chairs the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Health, warned the government not to hurry on the vaccine front and use it only after assuring its safety and efficacy.