About 25cr Indians will be under Covid-19 vaccine coverage by July 2021

India today said it expects to receive and utilise approximately 400-500 million doses of Covid-19 vaccines covering approximately 20-25 crore people by July next year, reports our New Delhi correspondent.

Health Minister Harsh Vardhan told his social media followers that the government is also keeping an eye on immunity data with regards to Covid-19 while finalising the plan.

"The Centre is also working on plans for building capacities in HR, training and supervision on a massive scale and roughly estimates to receive and utilise 400-500 million doses covering approximately 20-25 crore people by July 2021," he said.

To questions of prioritising the distribution of vaccines, Vardhan said the Health Ministry is currently preparing a format in which different states will submit their lists of priority population groups to receive vaccine, especially health workers engaged in the management of Covid-19.

The list of frontline health workers will include both government as well as private sector doctors, nurses, paramedics, sanitary staff, surveillance officers and many other occupational categories who are involved in tracing, testing and treatment of patients, he added.

"This exercise is targeted to be completed by the end of this month and the states are being closely guided to also submit details about cold chain facilities and other related infrastructure which will be required down to the block level," said Vardhan adding "there is a high-level committee which is drawing up the entire process."

According to Vardhan, vaccine procurement is being done centrally and each consignment will be tracked in real time until delivery to ensure it reaches those who need it most.

The minister assured another respondent that there would be no diversion or black-marketing of vaccines, reports our New Delhi correspondent.

"Vaccines will be distributed as per pre-decided priority and in a programmed manner. To ensure transparency and accountability, details of the entire process will be shared in the coming months," Vardhan said.

He stressed the need to prioritize health care workers and adults or those have underlying health conditions.

Answering similar questions, he said it is not possible to comment on the superiority of one vaccine over the other although he would ensure "that even if we have multiple vaccines available, they will all be safe and will elicit the requisite immune response against novel coronavirus."

Vardhan said all vaccines that have proven safe, immunogenic and efficacious in clinical trials outside India need to undergo bridging studies to prove their safety and immunogenicity in the Indian population as well although these studies can be conducted with much smaller sample size and can end quickly.

To a question regarding Phase 3 clinical trial of Russia's "Sputnik-V" vaccine in India, Vardhan said no decision has been taken on this yet.

"India has robust processes in place to ensure the vaccines that successfully complete the clinical trials are safe and effective against the novel coronavirus," the health minister said.

"When conducted, human challenge studies should be undertaken with abundant forethought, caution, and oversight. The value of the information to be gained should clearly justify the risks to human subjects," he added.

Sharing his views on single-dose versus double-dose vaccines, Vardhan accepted that for quick control of a pandemic, it is desirable to have a single-dose vaccine but said it is often difficult to achieve desired levels of immune protection using a single dose.

He said two-dose vaccines are suitable for attaining the desired immunogenicity as the first dose gives some immune protection and the second dose augments it further.