1. India appears to be on a good trajectory in the race of developing the coronavirus vaccine. A report earlier claimed that India will have a coronavirus vaccine by the end of this year.
2. In a recent statement from India’s health minister Dr. Harsh Vardhan said that 20-25 crore Indians would be vaccinated against COVID-19 by July 2021.
3. Vardhan said that while it is desirable to have a single-dose vaccine to quickly control the pandemic. However, he added that it is difficult to achieve the desired levels of immune protection using a single dose.
4. “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,” he added.
5. In his ‘Sunday Samvaad’ interaction on social media, the union minister said the Centre is working on building capacities to utilize 40-50 crore doses of a vaccine against COVID-19.
6. These doses will cover “approximately 20-25 crore people by July 2021”.The government had earlier announced that frontline health workers from both the public and private sector, will be the first to get vaccinated.
