‘Centre ready as India’s Covid vaccine may arrive early’

The Centre is ready for the smooth distribution of Covid-19 vaccine in case it is ready before December. Although Health Minister Harsh Vardhan has said that India’s first vaccine would be available by the end of 2020, sources said the vaccine may be ready earlier.

Sources said the government does not want to waste any time in starting its distribution in case the vaccine is ready early. “Therefore, we have to make sure that every system and strategy is well in place so that distribution work starts immediately after the goahead is given by the scientists,” said a source, adding “there is a possibility of the vaccine being ready in the next four to six weeks”.

Deliberations are going on, on who should get the vaccine first once it is ready. There appears to be a general consensus that the frontline workers should get it first. Deliberations are also on, on whether the elderly people should get it or those with co-morbidities or the people placed in socio-economic disadvantages and whose immunity has been weakened due to poverty and malnutrition.

While the government is holding meetings with representatives of the vaccine manufacturers, it is also developing an Electronic Vaccine Intelligence Network (EVIN), an innovative technological solution aimed at strengthening immunization supply chain systems across the country. This strong platform has the potential to be leveraged for the new Covid-19 vaccine, as and when it is available.

The National Expert Group on Vaccine Administration for

Covid-19 met representatives of leading domestic manufacturers, including Serum Institute of India (Pune), Bharat Biotech (Hyderabad) and Zydus Cadila (Ahmedabad) this week, to take inputs about the present stage of various candidate vaccines as well as their expectations from the government.

The meeting was chaired by Niti Aayog member V.K. Paul and cochaired by Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan. The meeting was also attended by representatives of Gennova Biopharmaceuticals (Pune) and Biological E (Hyderbad). The panel asked them about their production capacity and whether they need any kind of assistance from the government.

This was the second meeting of the committee. The first meeting was held last week.