New Delhi (NVI): India is at the cusp of authorizing the first set of COVID-19 vaccines and the vaccination drive will cover the target populations estimated to be about 30 crores, Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan said today.
The Union Minister made this announcement while chairing the 22nd meeting of the high-level Group of Ministers (GoM) to review the coronavirus situation, through a video-conference, the Ministry of Health said in a statement.
Vardhan also reiterated his concern and appeal to diligently maintain COVID appropriate behaviour even at a time when the country is at the cusp of authorizing the first set of vaccines, he was quoted as saying in the statement.
He further expressed the need for an expeditious vaccination drive to cover all the target populations estimated to be around 30 crores.
During the meeting, Vardhan expressed his deep gratitude to all the COVID warriors who have been steadfast in their duty without any fatigue throughout the pandemic which is in its 12th month.
He also informed his colleagues about the gains made by the country’s public health system against COVID and the encouraging results so far, the statement read.
The minister stated that, “India’s COVID-19 pandemic growth has dropped to 2 per cent and case fatality rate is amongst lowest in the world at 1.45 per cent. “India’s recovery rate has peaked to 95.46 per cent while the strategy of testing 1 million samples has decreased the cumulative positivity rate to 6.25 per cent” he added.
Observing the fact that despite festivals in the month of October and November, Vardhan informed that no new surge of cases were observed in this period due to comprehensive testing, tracking and treatment policy implemented on the ground.
Vardhan was virtually joined by External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep S Puri, Minister of State Health & Family Welfare Ashwini Kumar Choubey, Minister of State for Home Affairs Nityanand Rai, Member (Health) NITI Aayog Vinod K. Paul, Advisers to the Prime Minister Amarjeet Sinha and Bhaskar Khulbe, the ministry said.
At the meeting, Sujeet K Singh, NCDC director presented a detailed report on how the data driven graded government policies have helped India achieve a significant control over the pandemic.
He showed figures related to number of cases, deaths, their growth rate and how they compared favourably to the rest of the world which is witnessing a meteoric rise in these parameters.
Singh also presented a granular analysis of the trajectory of the pandemic in each state pointing out critical parameters like positivity, RAT and RT-PCR percent breakup, concentration of cases in particular districts and other trends like fatality, and fatality within 48 and 72 hours of hospitalization. He also presented data on the total dedicated COVID-19 facilities in the country.
Through a detailed presentation, NITI Aayog member Paul, apprised the GoM on three critical aspects of vaccination; the process of pre-clinical and clinical trial of all vaccines, the details of the six vaccine candidates undergoing trial in India and the composition of target populations in India, in terms of age, occupation and co-morbidities and how they compare with other countries and WHO’s recommendations.
He also briefed the GoM about requests for vaccines received by the Ministry of External Affairs from 12 other countries, the statement added.
-RJV
