India may begin vaccination in January; 30 crore people prioritised: Health Minister

As world continues to battle against COVID-19 pandemic, Union Health Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan on Monday spoke about Coronavirus situation in country. On being asked if worst phase of pandemic is over, Union Health Minister said, "I also think so. We have just about 3 lakh active cases in country, whereas a few months ago, re were about 10 lakh active cases in country."

While drawing a comparison between India and developed countries like US and UK, Dr Harsh Vardhan said that India h so far recorded over 1,00,31,223 cases, out of which more than 95 lakh people have recovered. He furr mentioned that India has highest recovery rate and significantly lowest fatality rate as well. Speaking furr, Minister said that although worst is over, people should strictly follow all COVID-19 guidelines. 

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Dr Hardh Vardhan: 'I feel that worst is probably over'

Dr Harsh Vardhan said, "I feel that worst may probably be over, but with a strong te of caution. We need to strictly follow COVID-19 appropriate behaviour. We can't afford to relax so major tool against pandemic will ultimately be masks, hand hygiene and physical distance."

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Health Minister Speaks About Vaccine

Asserting that Centre's first priority has been always been safety and effectiveness of vaccines and it will t compromise on that, Health Minister said that India may begin vaccinating people against COVID-19 in January. He also said that central government has been making preparations at state, District and block levels for past 4 months. "We have formed a task force at state, district and block levels," he ded. 

Highlighting that thousands of master trainers have been trained across country, Harsh Vardhan said that government has conducted training at state level, in which it trained over 20,000 workers in about 260 districts. On being asked if COVID-19 can be ericated like Polio, he said, "It was scientifically possible to ericate Polio. Ultimately pandemic will also subside and we will come across its sporic occurrences."

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Union Health Minister during his conversation with ANI informed that after consultation, centre has prioritized 30 crore people for COVID-19 vaccine. This list of 30 crore people includes health workers, frontline workers like police, military & sanitisation staff, people above 50 years and those who are below 50 years but are suffering from certain diseases. Pointing towards emergency use authorization request filed by Pfizer, Minister said that regulators are looking in matter. 

Claiming that government aims to vaccinate all people on priority list, Harsh Vardhan said that Centre will dress issue of vaccine hesitancy. "If anyone decides t to take vaccine, we can't force m," he ded. According to Health Minister, re are currently 9 vaccine candidates in different phases of a clinical trial in India, out of which 6 are under clinical trials and 3 are in pre-clinical phase.

Earlier on December 2, UK became first country in world to authorise use of Pfizer and BioNTech for emergency purposes, thus, paving way for delivery of vaccines; ors have w joined suit.

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