Never said Covid-19 vaccine will come in January: K Sudhakar

Health and Medical Education Minister K Sudhakar clarified to DH on Wednesday that he had never said the vaccine will be out in January, as reported by a section of the media.

He told DH, "I never said the vaccine will come in January as many have reported." Asked if he can tentatively point to a month in which the vaccine can be expected, he said, "Nobody can predict that. They (University of Oxford-AstraZeneca) have completed phase 1 of the trial. Phase 2 and 3 of the trial are underway."

The confusion was caused after Dr Sudhakar's office issued a release saying the vaccine will be available in early 2021 and with another reference to in the "beginning of 2021 itself" though the minister himself did not make such an announcement at the briefing. The indications in the release were interpreted by many as January. The minister, however, distanced himself from the release.