PM Narendra Modi on Friday held a virtual meeting with  top officials to discuss India’s vaccination strategy for Covid-19 and the way forward. During the meeting, issues related to progress of vaccine development, regulatory approvals and procurement were discussed, the prime minister informed on micro-blogging platform Twitter.

Several vaccines are in different stages of trial to prevent Covid-19 which has caused millions of deaths across the globe since its outbreak in Wuhan’s China last year.  Some of these vaccine have reported over 90% effectiveness. According to the government, in India five vaccines are in advanced stages of development. Many countries including Bangladesh, Qatar, Myanmar, South Korea, Bahrin, Switzerland, Bhutan and Austria have expressed interest  in partnering for vaccine development, the statement added. According to the statement, preparations are underway for administering the vaccine at the first available opportunity. These include preparing a database of  healthcare and frontline workers,  augmentation of cold chains and procurement of syringes, needles, etc.

Meanwhile, the third phase of human trials of India’s homemade vaccine covaxin have started in Odisha. Covaxin was administered to two recruits at the Institute of Medical Sciences and SUM Hospital. Oxford-Covid19 vaccine is another front runner in the race. Serum Institute of India’s CEO Adar Poonawalla has said that the vaccine would be available for healthcare workers and elderly people around February next year and by apriil for the general public. He said every Indian would hopefully be vaccinated by 2024. He said vaccine’s two doses will cost around Rs 1000. He added that the vaccine had so far produced great results and seemed to be working even on elderly people, which was a concern earlier.

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India’s covid-19 tally touched the 90-lakh mark with 45,882 new infection in past 24 hours. Currently there are  4,43,794 active cases in the country.

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