India's COVID-19 vaccination plan: How soon will we get corona vaccine? Know here

Union Health Minister Dr. Harsh Vardhan revealed India's COVID-19 vaccination plan during his 'Sunday Samvad' on October 4, 2020. The Minister assured that the government is working towards fair and equitable” distribution of Coronavirus vaccines after they are ready.

While elaborating on the government's vaccination plan, the health minister asserted that India is expecting to receive and utilise 40-50 crore doses to cover 20-25 crore people by July 2021 and has started working on plans to boost training capacity on a massive scale.

The centre has also asked the states to submit lists of populations that would receive the vaccine on priority, especially health workers engaged in Covid-19 management.

Key Highlights 

• Union Health Minister stated that the vaccine procurement will be done centrally and consignments will be tracked in real-time to ensure that they reach those who need it the most and there is no black-marketing.

• The health minister while outlining the priority accorded to healthcare workers said that the list of frontline personnel will include government as well as private sectors medical professionals such as doctors, nurses, paramedics and sanitary staff.

• The surveillance officers, ASHA workers and many other occupational categories who are involved in tracing, testing and treatment of patients are also included in the list of frontline personnel. 

• The Minister stated that the government's vaccination planning exercise is expected to be completed by the end of October.

• The Minister further stated that the government is keeping an eye on immunity data with regard to COVID-19 disease while finalising these plans.

• He stated that the government is working round-the-clock to ensure fair and equitable distribution of vaccines, once they are ready and it is their utmost priority to figure out a plan on how to ensure a vaccine for each and everybody in the country.

India's COVID Vaccines

Currently, three COVID-19 vaccines are in phase 2-3 trials, which are so far showing promising results. Bharat Biotech is developing COVAXIN in collaboration with the Indian Council of Medical Research. Zydus Cadila is working on the second COVID vaccine and the Serum Institute of India is partnering with AstraZeneca for the Oxford-AstraZeneca COVID vaccine.

India is also part of the GAVI alliance that is intended to ensure that 92 low and middle-income countries get access to the vaccine. Though the exact vaccine approval date will depend upon the trial results, the government has indicated that a vaccine could be available by early 2021.