Union Health Minister @drharshvardhan interacts with social media users during Sunday Samvaad 4 on October 4. (@MoHFW_India/Twitter Photo)
New Delhi, October 4 (IANS): Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan said on Sunday that the Centre is working on plans to procure 400-500 million doses of Covid-19 vaccine, which will be administered to up to 25 crore people by July 2021.
"Government plans to receive and utilise 400-500 million Covid-19 vaccine doses. Our target is to cover 20-25 crore people by July 2021. For that, we are building capacities in HR, training, supervision, etc, on a massive scale," he said at his weekly webinar 'Sunday Samvaad' for his social media followers.
The Minister said that a high-level committee under Niti Aayog Member, Health, V.K. Paul is drawing up the entire process. "Vaccine procurement is being done centrally and each consignment will be tracked real time until delivery to ensure it reaches those who need it most," he said.
Harsh Vardhan said that these committees are working on understanding the timelines of availability of various vaccines in the country, obtaining commitments from their manufacturers to make available maximum number of doses for India's inventory, on supply chain management and also on prioritisation of high-risk groups.
"This is work in progress which will be completed by the time the vaccines are ready to ensure the swift roll-out of the immunisation programme," he said.
He also indicated that the frontline workers and those having underlying health conditions are in the top priority list of the government for vaccine administration, saying that his ministry is currently preparing a format in which states will submit lists of priority population groups to receive the vaccine, especially health workers engaged in the management of Covid-19.
"The list of frontline health workers will include both government as well as private sector doctors, nurses, paramedics, sanitary staff, ASHA workers, surveillance officers and many other occupational categories who are involved in tracing, testing and treatment of patients," he added.
"The vaccine will be distributed as per pre-decided priority and in a programmed manner. To ensure transparency and accountability, details of the entire process will be shared in the coming months," he said.
Harsh Vardhan also informed that the states are being closely guided to also submit details about cold chain facilities and other related infrastructure which will be required down to the block level distribution of the vaccine.
"This exercise is targeted to be completed by the end of this October," he said.
‘Vaccines developed abroad will be checked for safety’
Vardhan on Sunday said that Covid-19 vaccines developed outside India will have to undergo bridging studies to prove their safety and immunogenicity in the Indian population.
"We are open to assessing the feasibility of introducing several Covid-19 vaccines in the country... However, all vaccines that have proven to be safe, immunogenic and efficacious in clinical trials outside India need to undergo bridging studies to prove their safety and immunogenicity in the Indian population as well," he said.
"Such studies are conducted with much smaller sample size and quickly. A similar approach will be adopted for Covid-19 vaccines which are developed outside the country," he said during his weekly webinar "Sunday Samvaad".
Harsh Vardhan's comment comes as several candidate drugs enter the final phase of testing and trials. Three potential vaccines are being tested in India, including Covishield, which was developed jointly by the Jenner Institute of the University of Oxford and pharma giant AstraZeneca.
Covishield is in Phase-2 and Phase-3 human trials and, if successful, will be mass produced by Pune-based Serum Institute of India (SII), one of the world's largest manufacturers of vaccines. Its trials in India are running at 17 locations across the country.
Besides, two other vaccine candidates are also being tested across the country.
Indigenous vaccine developer Bharat Biotech, in collaboration with the the Indian Council of Medical Research and the National Institute of Virology, is conducting Phase-1 and Phase-2 clinical trials of vaccine candidate COVAXIN. The third vaccine candidate under human trial is ZyCoV-D, developed by Zydus Cadila. This candidate is now under Phase-1 and Phase-2 of clinical trials.
‘No final decision on phase-3 trials of Sputnik V as yet’
Meanwhile, Vardhan clarified on Sunday that the government is yet to take a final decision on phase-3 trials of the Russian COVID-19 vaccine candidate Sputnik V.
"This issue is still under consideration and no final decision on Sputnik V vaccine developed by Russia has been taken as yet," he stated.
The clarification by the minister has come after a pharmaceutical giant, which partnered with Russia's sovereign wealth fund in September to conduct final trials and distribution of the Sputnik V, sought permission for the same from Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) on Friday.
Hyderabad-based drugmaker Dr Reddy's Laboratories (DRL) had partnered the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) last month to conduct final-stage human trials and distribution of Russia's Sputnik V Covid-19 vaccine in India. Two days ago, the DRL had applied to the DCGI for permission to conduct the phase-3 human clinical trials of Sputnik. Upon regulatory approval in India, RDIF will supply Dr Reddy's 100 million doses of the vaccine, the firm had said last month.
