The Centre has meticulous planned to vaccinate healthcare workers and
those above 65 years on priority, said Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan on Thursday, expressing confidence that a COVID-19 vaccine will be ready in the next three-four months, reported PTI.

Addressing the FICCI FLO’s
national webinar on ‘The Shifting Healthcare Paradigm During and Post-COVID’,
Vardhan said it is estimated that 400-500 million vaccine doses will be made
available for 250-300 million people by July-August.

“It is natural that the
vaccine distribution would have to be prioritised. As you know the healthcare
workers who are corona warriors will be prioritised, then people who are above
65 years of age, they have been prioritised and then those from 50-65 years of age
have been prioritised. Then those below 50 years who have other diseases,”
he said.

Vardhan said everything is being
decided by experts with a scientific point of view.

There are various vaccine candidates in the phase-3 trial and scientists have pinned high hopes after US-based pharmaceutical companies said that their candidates showed 95% effectiveness. In Indian, the Oxford
vaccine of the Serum Institute is almost near completion, while the phase-3
clinical trial of the indigenously-developed vaccine candidate of the Bharat
Biotech and the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) has already started.

Dr Reddy’s Laboratories will also
soon start the combined phase 2 and 3 clinical trials of the Russian COVID-19
vaccine, Sputnik V, in India.

The coronavirus pandemic, which originated in China’s Wuhan province, has so far infected over 55,659,785 people, including 1,338,769 deaths, as per WHO.