To address the novel coronavirus pandemic, various health protocols have been implemented, which will remain for a long time and people will have to keep wearing masks even after a Covid-19 vaccine becomes available, said the head of the Indian Council of Medical Research. (ICMR). Professor Balram Bhargava said on Saturday.
The ICMR chief who spoke at a webinar hosted by Lucknow’s King George Medical University (KGMU) has said that the country is making rapid progress when it comes to developing a coronavirus vaccine.
“We have a goal of providing vaccines to 30 million people by July next year. The future course of action will be decided after that. India will develop a vaccine, not only for itself, but for 60 percent of the nations in development. Twenty-four manufacturing units and 19 companies will participate in the development of a Covid-19 vaccine “, Hindustan he quoted Balram Bhargava as saying.
The masks are here to stay because they work like a vaccine, said the director general of the ICMR.
“The mask is like a cloth vaccine. We cannot ignore the contribution of the masks to stop the spread of Covid-19. We are working on vaccines, five candidates are being tested in India. Of these, two are being developed by India three are from abroad. But vaccines will not be enough to end Covid-19. We will have to follow health and safety protocols, “added Bhargava at the webinar entitled ‘Paradigm Shift in Covid-19 Management’ .
Bhargava also said that masks play an important role in keeping people who have recovered from Covid-19 safe.
“It is possible that (the masks) will never go away. The vaccine will provide some protection, but the masks or the cloth vaccine will have to continue. I don’t think we can give up these measures, including social distancing,” Bhargava said. The ICMR chief also ruled out the possibility of another lockdown when asked.
PM visits major vaccine pharmacies to check progress
The webinar was held on a day when Prime Minister Narendra Modi took a three-city tour to Pune, Ahmedabad and Hyderabad to personally review the development and manufacture of the Covid-19 vaccine.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi first landed in Ahmedabad to review the progress of the vaccine. He visited the Zydus Cadila pharmaceutical plant near Ahmedabad to obtain information on the development of his vaccine.
After Ahmedabad, PM Modi came to Hyderabad to take stock of the work that was being done on the development of Covid-19 vaccines at the main pharmaceutical company Bharat Biotech.
At 3.20pm, PM Modi departed for Pune to visit the Serum Institute of India (SII) in Manjari, where he landed at 4.30pm on the last leg of his three-city vaccine work review visit.
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