Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan on Sunday said that the first shot of a coronavirus vaccine could be administered in "any week of January". The BJP leader said that the safety and effectiveness of vaccines would be the first priority and that there won't be any compromise on that parameter.
Six vaccines- one developed by Bharat Biotech in collaboration with ICMR, second one developed by Zydus Cadila, third one by Gennova, Oxford vaccine, the trial of which is conducted by Serum Institute of India, Sputnik V vaccine which is being manufactured by Dr Reddy's Lab, Hyderabad, in collaboration with Russia's Gamaleya National Centre and the sixth one manufactured by Biological E Ltd, Hyderabad, in collaboration with MIT, USA are undergoing clinical trials in India.
"Our first priority has been the safety and effectiveness of vaccines. We don't want to compromise on that. I personally feel, maybe in any week of January, we can be in a position to give the first COVID vaccine shot to people of India," Harsh Vardhan was quoted by news agency ANI.
Recently, the Union Health Ministry said that getting vaccinated for COVID-19 will be voluntary, and underlined that the vaccine introduced in India will be as effective as any vaccine developed by other countries. The ministry stated that it was advisable to receive a complete schedule of the anti-coronavirus vaccine irrespective of past history of infection with COVID-19 as this will help in developing a strong immune response against the disease. It said that protective level of antibodies generally develop two weeks after receiving the second dose.
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