With the number of cases exceeding 1.6 million, including 35,712 fatalities, the Union health ministry said on Thursday that looking forward, India will require to administer the COVID-19 vaccine on a much larger scale than other vaccines once it becomes available.
Two indigenous vaccines have seen progress as they undergo Phase 1 and 2 clinical trials, each with over 1,000 subjects, revealed the Centre in India.
Rajesh Bhushan, secretary of Union health ministry said: “We have begun to actively engage with stakeholders within and outside the government on prioritizing distribution and administering of COVID-19 vaccines, as and when they become available.” He added “There is near unanimity on the need to administer COVID-19 vaccine on a much larger scale than other vaccines. Apart from questions regarding logistics, this poses many ethical questions, which are still being deliberated upon within the central government.”
With a huge population of 138 crores, India is not focusing on the development of herd immunity as an intuitive option or choice, as it can only come at a very “high cost”, said the ministry. “Herd immunity is a kind of indirect protection from an infectious disease, such as COVID-19, which happens only when a population becomes immune, either through vaccination or previous infection. We need to sustain COVID-appropriate behaviour, and herd immunity is not a choice or option for India,” said Bhushan.
The government added India’s role-playing importance in both Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, a public-private global health partnership, aiming at increasing access to immunization in poor countries, and the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations. COVAX is a well dedicated and developed vaccine facility. WHO has evolved Access to COVID-19 tools (ACT) to accelerate development, production and equitable access to the latest COVID-19 diagnostics, drugs and vaccines.
The government has received 131 insurance claims for COVID-19 healthcare workers, among which 20 cases have been settled, 64 are under progress and 47 are with state governments. Bhushan said that the maximum cased were observed in Maharashtra, Delhi and Telangana.
The Union health ministry is, meanwhile, taking technical inputs from domain knowledge experts and is preparing to issue guidelines for operating gymnasiums and yoga centres, which will be allowed to reopen from 5 August, when the country enters the next phase with Unlock 3.

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