iNDICA NEWS BUREAU-
India will test its own Covid-19 vaccine-delivery system with a nationwide trial-rollout following New Year’s Day according to Bloomberg News.
India government officials report the prime objective of this vaccine trial-run is to test any kinks between the planning and actual vaccine implementation, as well as to identify any other possible unforeseen problems.
A Thursday government release said the federal health ministry has reviewed its preparedness and has further asked its individual state governments nationwide to ensure the effectiveness of this proposed program.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi said in a Thursday speech that the country was preparing to give its home-manufactured vaccines to high-risk groups first including health care and front-line workers, police and military troops, those with co-morbidities, and those above the age 50.
Bloomberg further reports that the India government hopes to vaccinate 300 million people, of its estimated 1.3 billion population, by August in its first Covid-19 inoculation phase.
As also reported by Bloomberg, India will first use the two-dose vaccines as manufactured by its own Bharat Biotech and the Serum Institute of India. Further, the Serum Institute of India has partnered with the British Oxford-based AstraZeneca to the manufacturer at least one billion doses of its vaccine, half of which has been promised to India.
India government sources report both homegrown India vaccine manufacturers themselves, followed by Pfizer Inc., have all applied for emergency-use permission for their coronavirus vaccines.
These same India government officials report a committee of India’s Central Drugs Standard Control Organization is expected to meet to consider these emergency-use applications following studying the safety, efficacy, and immunogenicity data from both the homegrown Bharat and Serum manufacturers as well as the British Oxford-based AstraZeneca.
On a final note, India government officials also report that Belgium-based Pfizer has also asked to present its own vaccine data for consideration.
