COVID-19 vaccine for common people by 2022, says AIIMS Director; cites challenges

AIIMS Director Dr. Randeep Guleria on Sunday said that the COVID-19 vaccine would reach the common people only by 2022. Guleria, who is a member of the national task force on coronavirus management, added that it will take "more than a year" for the COVID-19 vaccine to be easily available in the Indian market.

Speaking to a leading news channel, he cited India's large population as he detailed about the procurement process of the vaccine and challenges related to it.  He further stated that the vaccine should be accessible to all countries without any "vaccine nationalism."

Emphasising on the challenges, the AIIMS director said the prime focus would be its distribution so that it reaches every part of the country. According to Dr. Guleria, the second challenge would be to figure out the positioning of another vaccine that comes out later and is seen as more effective than the first one. Furthermore, he asserted that the coronavirus infection "will not vanish" with vaccination.

READ: COVID-19 cases in India breach 85-lakh mark

India's Vaccine Development

Bharat Biotech and ICMR's COVID-19 vaccine Covaxin's third phase human trials are set to commence at the Institute of Medical Sciences (IMS) and SUM Hospital in Odisha soon. IMS and SUM Hospital is the only institute in Odisha out of the list of 21 medical institutes which have been selected by Indian Council for Medical Research (ICMR) for the phase III trials of the COVID-19 vaccine.

Meanwhile, Adar Poonawalla, the CEO of Serum Institute of India (SII), has said that the Oxford-AstraZeneca’s coronavirus vaccine candidate, dubbed Covishield in India, could be ready for roll-out as early as December if clinical trials succeed. Following the approval of Drug Controller General of India (DCGI), the final stage of clinical trials of COVID-19 vaccine candidate developed by UK’s Oxford University and manufactured by Serum Institute of India (SII) has begun in Pune, an official was quoted on September 21. 

Additionally, the BCG or Bacille Calmette Guerin vaccine may help fight the COVID-19 infection. It can especially be effective for the elderly, according to a study conducted by the Indian Council of Medical Research. On October 28, ICMR announced that the study found that BCG vaccine 'induces enhanced innate and adaptive immunity' in the elderly people which can turn out to be effective in the fight against coronavirus. 

READ: Odisha reports 1,434 new COVID-19 cases, 15 fresh fatalities

Meanwhile, India's COVID-19 caseload went past 85 lakh, while the number of people who have recuperated from the disease surged to 78,68,968 pushing the national recovery rate to 92.49 per cent, according to the Union Health Ministry data updated on Sunday.

The total coronavirus cases mounted to 85,07,754  with 45,674 infections being reported in a day, while the death toll climbed to 1,26,121 with 559 new fatalities, the data updated at 8 am showed.

READ: 21 new cases take COVID-19 tally of Andamans to 4,441

READ: Third wave of COVID-19 in Delhi worst so far; cases to come down soon: Health Minister Jain