COVID-19: DST says Centre's plan to vaccinate all by year-end ambitious but 'attainable'

According to Dr Ashutosh Sharma, Secretary, Department of Science and Technology (DST), the Centre's COVID-19 immunization plan to inoculate all people of the country by December 31 is not only ambitious but also 'attainable'. Dr Sharma on Sunday said, "In terms of technology, we are totally prepared for the third wave and would get even better as we go forward this year. Our vaccination plan to innoculate all citizens of the country by December is not only ambitious but also realistic." 

Coronavirus vaccination goal is attainable: DST secy

Dr Sharma noted, "During the first wave, we built a huge infrastructure which was related to basic things like ventilator, all kinds of diagnostics, PPE kits, N-95 masks, now we even have a vaccine which is of Indian origin. In addition to setting up the infrastructure for the vaccine, cold chain, the supply lines, logistics, all have been put together quickly in the first wave."

He explained, "The second wave was rather sudden and we found that certain things were missing and that was not as much available in quantity as was needed at the peak of the second wave."

COVID-19 vaccination in India

Speaking on oxygen supply innovation across the country, he stated that several innovations have been made in the area of oxygen delivery, such as the repurposing of numerous oxygen plants that were formerly used to produce industrial oxygen and have now been repurposed to produce medical oxygen. He also noted that the science-based start-ups and technologies are playing a critical role in India's fight against the second wave of the Coronavirus pandemic.

The doctor mentioned that the RT-PCR from Sree Chitra Tirunal Institute for Medical Sciences and Technology targets two genes, one of which does not suffer many mutations, when discussing innovation in RT-PCR testing. He stated, "So, we will not produce false RT-PCR readings as much as otherwise might happen." Dr Sharma added, "An antibody kit has been developed at Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore. lt looks at antibodies IgM and IgG. The kit measures the number of antibodies. It also determines if they are fading."

India reports lowest daily cases in last 50 days

With 1,52,734 cases, India has reported the lowest daily new coronavirus infections in the last 50 days. This takes the overall tally to 2,80,47,534 on Monday, while the active caseload declined to 20,26,092, the Health Ministry said. The death toll climbed to 3,29,100 with 3,128 more casualties, as per the ministry data.

(with inputs from ANI)

Picture Credit: ANI/PTI