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NEW DELHI: India’s Ministry of Health announced that some COVID-19 vaccines are likely to be licensed in the coming weeks and outlined an initial plan to immunize 300 million people.
Health officials said on Tuesday (December 8) that three vaccine companies have applied for advance approval for emergency use in India: Serum Institute of India, which is licensed to make the AstraZeneca vaccine, Pfizer, and Indian manufacturer Bharat Biotech.
“Some of them may be licensed in the next few weeks,” said Federal Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan.
India says its initial immunization plan revolves around three priority groups: 10 million health workers, 20 million frontline workers such as the police and the military, and 270 million other people over 50 or older. have diseases that make them more vulnerable to COVID. -Effects of 19.
The Ministry of Health previously set an August 2021 target to immunize these people.
The population of India is almost 1.4 billion.
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Bhushan said that India would depend on its existing immunization programs, which are among the largest in the world. Every year, India immunizes 26 million infants and 30 million pregnant women with 300 million doses of vaccine.
But there are challenges. Even before the pandemic, vaccination coverage for children in India was spotty. It is the lowest among indigenous communities in India, where only 56 percent of newborns are vaccinated.
Health officials must also ensure that the emphasis on coronavirus vaccines does not disrupt existing immunization programs. That means more people must be trained to administer vaccines. Immunizing adults will also require different medical staff rather than pediatricians, and you may face increased resistance to vaccines.
“My concern is that we have not seen adult immunization before,” said Dr. Gagandeep Kang, an infectious disease expert at Christian Medical College in Vellore, South India.
The Serum Institute of India, the world’s largest vaccine manufacturer, has applied for an emergency use license for the AstraZeneca vaccine from the University of Oxford based on phase three trials in India and other countries, health officials said at a conference of press.
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Bharat Biotech applied for a license for its experimental inactivated virus vaccine without completing Phase 3 testing, they said. Under Indian rules for accelerated vaccine approval, a company can get a license if regulators are “satisfied with the risk-benefit ratio,” said Balram Bharagava, director of the Indian Council for Medical Research.
Pfizer has applied for permission to import its experimental mRNA vaccine for sale and distribution without clinical trials in India, officials said.
The company said in a statement that it would supply the vaccine “only through government contracts based on agreements with the respective government authorities” after approval. Your vaccine needs to be stored in very cold temperatures, which India’s existing infrastructure is unlikely to provide.
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