NEW DELHI: The Union Health Ministry said Tuesday that India is doing relatively well in its fight against the Covid-19 pandemic, as well as talking about the way forward: vaccinations.
Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan said 29,000 cold chain points, 240 cold rooms, 70 cold rooms, 45,000 ice-lined refrigerators, 41,000 freezers and 300 lots coolers will be used for this purpose. He added that all these teams have already reached different states.
However, he also warned of adverse effects, saying that such adverse effects are mainly seen in children and pregnant women after vaccination.
Bhushan also referred to international cases to make their point, saying that India cannot deny the chances of adverse events when Covid-19 vaccination begins. “In nations where immunization has already started, particularly in the UK, adverse events occurred on the first day,” he said.
Bhushan urged the states and UT to prepare for such scenarios. He also said that the number of cases per million inhabitants in this country continues to be among the lowest in the world. While the world average is still 9,000, the number of cases in India is 7,178 per million people.
Meanwhile, VK Paul, NITI Aayog member (Health), acknowledged how the rise of Covid in Delhi has been controlled and congratulated the government on this. But he sternly cautioned not to take this lightly, adding that the curve can go wrong too.
“There are some states where we still have concerns,” he said, urging the government and citizens of Uttarakhand, Nagaland and Himachal Pradesh to do “everything possible” to control the current situation.
“This week, the Comptroller General of Drugs of India granted authorization for clinical trials of another vaccine candidate from India,” he said. The Genoa company, he said, with the help of the Center’s Department of Biotechnology, has developed a vaccine.
The technology used in it is similar to that of Pfizer. However, it can be kept under normal cold chain conditions, in a normal refrigerator, unlike Pfizer, Paul added. He stated that as of today, six vaccines are in clinical trials in India.
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