NEW DELHI: The government plans to administer around 40-50 crore of covid-19 vaccines to 20-25 crore of Indians in July. The Center, together with the states, is also preparing a list of priority population groups, especially front-line health workers, who would receive vaccines, Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan said on Sunday.
“The list of frontline healthcare workers includes the government sector, as well as doctors, nurses, paramedics, healthcare personnel, Asha workers, surveillance officers, and many other categories of frontline workers involved in treatment, testing and treating patients, “he added. said the minister in his weekly ‘Sunday Samvad’ session.
The Center has also asked states to compile a list of cold chain facilities for the storage and distribution of vaccine doses down to the block level, he said.
“Our rough estimate will be to receive and use 400-500 million doses, covering approximately 20-25 crore of people by July 2021. All of this is still in various stages of completion,” he said, adding that the government is already considering immunity. data for covid-19 disease.
Three vaccines are currently undergoing human trials in India, and the Serum Institute of India is conducting a seamless phase 2/3 trial of the candidate developed jointly by the University of Oxford and AstraZeneca plc. The other two vaccines, from Zydus Cadila and another jointly from Bharat Biotech International and the National Institute of Virology of the Indian Council of Medical Research, are indigenously developed vaccines that are in a seamless phase 1/2 trial.
Apart from these three, the Serum Institute is also expected to begin phase 2/3 trials of the Novavax candidate vaccine in the second half of this month, while there are around half a dozen more indigenous vaccines in the preclinical stage.
The Indian government is also on the lookout for talks by the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) and the Gamaleya Epidemiology Research Institute for the mass manufacture of its Sputnik V vaccine by Indian companies. The government has previously said that it would facilitate phase 3 trials in India.
Harsh Vardhan said on Sunday that the government is open to introducing the foreign-developed covid-19 vaccine to India, as long as they are shown to be safe and effective for the Indian population.
“All vaccines that have been shown to be safe, immunogenic and effective in clinical trials outside of India must undergo bridging studies to demonstrate their safety and immunogenicity in the Indian population as well. These studies are conducted with a much smaller sample size and are completed quickly, “he said.
The Serum Institute’s clinical trial in India, which is a bridging study, is enrolling only about 1,600 patients compared to about 5,000 and more than AstraZeneca is enrolling each in countries such as the UK, the US and Brazil.
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