Union Health Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan spoke to NDTV on Monday evening
New Delhi:
More than 29 lakh people had registered, online or through the Aarogya Setu app, at 8.30pm on Monday, the first day of the public launch of coronavirus vaccines, the Union Health Minister told NDTV. , Dr. Harsh Vardhan. Dr. Vardhan even suggested that the actual number could be as much as one crore, because each individual who signed up could add up to four others.
“I had checked the data before talking to you … up to 8.30pm more than 29 lakh people have registered on the platform. And, as you can see, if one person registers, they have the possibility to register for four members of the family”. Dr. Vardhan told NDTV.
“So if you take the average of a person who signs up for two, then it becomes almost 60 lakhs. And, if you think everyone signs up for four from their family, then cross a crore,” he added.
India began the second phase of the vaccination campaign at 9 a.m. Monday, shifting to inoculating around 27 million people over the age of 60 (and over 45 but with comorbidities).
This comes amid an increase in cases in some states, notably Maharashtra, where more than 6,300 infections were reported in the past 24 hours, and amid concerns about mutated strains.
Dr Vardhan, who is scheduled to take his injection this morning at the Heart and Lung Institute in Delhi, said the data at this stage did not indicate any link between the new strains and the spike, which he attributed to the reduction in required protocols such as maintaining social distancing.
“The increase in the number of cases, in Maharashtra, Kerala or any other state, has nothing to do with the new strains of Covid, be they Brazilian, South African or UK,” he said, adding: “I am hopeful that things are like that is going to settle and the recent outbreak is not permanent. “
Dr. Vardhan also urged people to keep their guard up despite the launch of the vaccines, and that people should continue to follow the appropriate Covid protocol “for at least a few more months.”
“The idea of vaccinating as many people as possible is to ensure that more and more people have antibodies, that they can get the infection or the vaccine. This will strengthen our movement towards herd immunity. Scientifically, that helps a lot. And, ultimately, that is the goal of vaccination: to protect people at the individual and community and social level, “he said.
Registration for injections can be done through the CoWIN web portal or the Aarogya Setu app, and people can choose between the facilities (government or private) from which to receive the vaccine.
However, early Monday, many reported that they were unable to book appointments. The platforms accepted registrations but did not assign appointments in private facilities.
“You see, being today the first day, many of our private hospitals had not put the schedule (in the CoWin platform or the application) for the people. Tomorrow morning we will have a meeting with the states and, through them, the private hospitals and ask them to put in a detailed schedule for the next month, “explained Dr. Vardhan.
“These are not very important issues. I think people may have faced problems like this on the first day … but you are not going to face most of these problems in the next few days,” he emphasized.
The vaccines will be administered in 10,000 government centers (free of charge) and 20,000 private centers (capped at Rs 250 per dose). Dr. Vardhan said these costs could change in the future depending on how many more vaccines are licensed for use, but cautioned that “it is too early to consider this.”
To a question about data from the late-stage trial of Covaxin, which has yet to release efficacy data, will be available, Dr. Vardhan said “very soon” and reiterated that the drug is safe, noting that Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who got her first injection Monday, took the same vaccine.
Covaxin is one of the two vaccines used in India for now (the other is Covishield).
Dr. Vardhan also highlighted that there were sufficient stocks of Covid vaccines available for the entire country and to meet the demands of others.
Last month, Serum Institute CEO Adar Poonawalla told NDTV that although the supplies would be shipped to about 30 countries over the next several weeks, India would receive priority shipments.
.
