Union Health and Family Welfare Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan on Thursday, 19 November, claimed that he was “confident that the COVID-19 vaccine will be ready in the next three-four months” while addressing the FICCI FLO webinar on ‘The Shifting Healthcare Paradigm During and Post-COVID', according to ANI.
He went on to stress that the priority to make the vaccine available to Indians would be based on scientific assessments, and healthcare workers would be among the first ones to get vaccinated.
“I am confident that the COVID-19 vaccine will be ready in the next three-four months. Priority for the vaccine will be designed on the basis of scientific data. Health care workers and corona warriors will naturally be prioritised followed by elderly and disease-prone people.”Union Health and Family Welfare Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan
Speaking on the distribution and tracking of the vaccine, he added, “Very detailed planning is underway for vaccine dissemination. An e-vaccine intelligence platform has been created to discuss the blueprint for the same. Tracking and tracing of the vaccine would be neck-deep once it's available for the public. Hopefully, 2021 should be a better year for all of us."
‘The Government Has Been Very Proactive in Its Response’
The Union Minister also applauded efforts made by the central government – its implementation of the Janta curfew and the surveillance practices adopted in public spaces – amid the pandemic.
“Janta curfew was a very innovative and unique experiment by our Prime Minister Narendra Modi. It had nationwide participation from the citizens. The decision to impose a lockdown followed by unlocking were some bold decisions by the central government during the pandemic. We have handled it very well. The government has been very proactive in its response towards this fight. Airports, seaports and land borders were put under surveillance for COVID-19 well in time” Vardhan said.
He also went on to give a rundown of the past year, expressing that "initially we faced a shortage of PPE kits, ventilators and N-95 masks” but soon shifted the focus on India’s triumphs in dealing with the virus.
He asserted that “we were able to export these things to different parts of the world. Our scientists are now well ahead of many others globally in their research on the vaccine. In a couple of months, we should be able to produce a vaccine for the COVID-19 infection.”
“Our performance has been excellent on every parameter set by the World Health Organisation, we have the highest recovery rate and the least fatality rate. We have 2,115 laboratories in every look and corner of the country for COVID tests. Over 20 lakh dedicated COVID beds are in place. It proves that whenever India decides to excel at something, it does,” he added.
The Health Minster also echoed PM Modi’s dream of a state flourishing in “nationalism and humanism” by 2022.
He concluded, "We will deliver a new India in 2022 as per the dream of PM Narendra Modi. Only humanism and nationalism would prevail in this new India as our PM envisions."
(With inputs from ANI)
(At The Quint, we are answerable only to our audience. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member. Because the truth is worth it.)