More than one COVID-19 vaccine in India likely by early 2021: Harsh Vardhan

The Centre is expecting COVID-19 vaccine from six to seven sources by early next year. Vaccination may be undertaken between January and July 2021.

Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan has finally announced the good news that we all are waiting to hear since the COVID-19 pandemic reached India. The Health Minister on Tuesday said that a vaccine against the novel coronavirus may be available in India by early 2021.

According to him, plans are being chalked out on how to roll out the distribution of the vaccine in the country. By early next year, the country may have COVID-19 vaccine from more than one source, he added.

"We're expecting that early next year we should have the vaccine in the country from maybe more than one source. Our expert groups are formulating strategies to plan on how to roll out the distribution of the vaccine in the country," said Harsh Vardhan during Group of Ministers meeting.

Assam may start vaccination from January

Assam state Health Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma also informed media on Tuesday that the central government has asked the state to be ready for the vaccination against coronavirus from January next year.

"The central government has informed us that frontline workers and people above 60 will be given priority in the vaccination programme. We have been asked to be ready from January to July for the vaccination," IANS quoted Sarma as saying.

The Centre had also held several consultations through videoconference with the state governments to undertake vaccination between January and July 2021, he said.

Further, Sarma told media persons that the Centre is expecting the COVID-19 vaccine from six to seven sources by early next year and that the vaccination may be carried out with a mix of vaccines instead of a single one.

Top six vaccine candidates in contention right now

Using more than one vaccine to inoculate masses will ensure India has an effective vaccine ready as well as enough doses for its billion figure population. Below are the top six vaccine candidates in contention right now:

Covishield

The University of Oxford-Astrazeneca backed COVID vaccine candidate is the first international candidate to reach late-stage trials in India. Initial trials have shown promising results. The Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGIMER) in Chandigarh is preparing for the second phase of experimental dosing after the first trials proved successful, with no adverse side-effects.

Covaxin

India's indigenous COVID-19 vaccine is currently in the middle of phase II testing. The vaccine maker Bharat Biotech has already sought the drug regulator's approval to kickstart phase III trials in centres across India. Clinical results from animal studies have shown that Covaxin can deliver sufficient immunogenicity response against high viral loads.

mRNA-1273

The vaccine developed by USA-based Moderna Inc. in partnership with the US government's National Institutes of Health (NIH) is another vaccine candidate expected to be released early next year.

Sputnik V

It has already been registered for use in Russia. Dr. Reddy' Lab is aiming to conduct mid-scale trials of the vaccine in the coming months in India by and roll out early doses by January.

Pfizer-BionTech

A COVID-19 vaccine candidate co-developed by the pharmaceutical giant Pfizer and the German biotech company BioNTech is currently in phase III of testing. It is expected to be one of the first candidates to roll out safety data.

ZyCOV-D

It is the second indigenous COVID-19 vaccine for India. Developed by Ahmedabad-based Zydus Cadila, ZyCOV-D has advanced into phase II trials and is seeing steady progress. The company has already announced plans to roll out emergent doses once they get authorization from the government. P

Coronavirus cases in India

Meanwhile, India's COVID-19 tally has surpassed 71 lakh-mark. As of Tuesday, the coronavirus cases in India stand at 71,75,881 including 8,38,729 active cases, 62,27,296 cured/discharged/migrated cases and 1,09,856 deaths, according to the Ministry of Health data.

The other good news is that India recorded its lowest number of coronavirus cases on Tuesday (October 13, 2020) after a period of nearly two months. The country recorded 55,342 positive cases in the last 24 hours. This is a significant decline as India had been consistently recording cases above the 70,000 mark from the past few weeks.