Did Mansukh Mandaviya, the new health minister, know that he would be given charge of the ministry? Going by his recent visits to vaccine plants just a few days before the big reshuffle in PM Narendra Modi’s cabinet, the 49-year-old MP was preparing in advance for the big role.

Mansukh Mandaviya, who comes from PM Modi’s home state Gujarat,  has taken over as the health minister at a time when the country is facing the COVID-19 crisis. Mandaviya, like his predecessor Dr Harsh Vardhan, is not a practicing doctor. He has been a member of the Rajya Sabha, the upper house of Parliament, since 2012.

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With a big churn in the cabinet, PM Modi has sent out a message to all the ministers that their performance review will lead to their report card, and the subsequent promotion or demotion. Dr Harsh Vardhan, who held the health portfolio was heavily criticised for the alleged mishandling of the Covid situation during the second deadly surge. It probably cost him his job as minister.

What are the plans of Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya?

Mansukh Mandaviya, who has made steady progress in his career since he first became a minister in 2016, has given hints about his future plans by visiting vaccine plants across the nation. On July 4, just three days before the big churn, Mandaviya had visited Zydus Biotech Park in Ahmedabad. Zydus Universe is the developer of the ‘ZyCov-D’ which will be the world’s first DNA-based Covid-19 vaccine.

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The next stop was Hester India in Gujarat the same day and he tweeted a development with the hashtag #FreeVaccineForAll. Do we get the hint here?

Zydus Cadila (CADI.NS) has applied for emergency use approval of its three-dose COVID-19 vaccine that showed the efficacy of 66.6% in an interim study and could become the second home-grown shot if regulators consent. If approved, ZyCoV-D will be the world’s first DNA vaccine, Zydus said, as it makes use of a portion of the genetic code – DNA or RNA – in the SARS-CoV-2 virus to stimulate an immune response against its spike protein.

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He also visited the Serum Institute of India plant in Pune early last week to review the rollout of the COVID-19 vaccine ‘Covishield’ from the facility. And, the top boss Adar Poonawalla personally showed him the plant and updated him on developments.

Mandaviya had also inaugurated the PSA Oxygen plant set up by The Fertilisers And Chemicals Travancore Limited (FACT) at OPEC Kaili Hospital, Basti, Uttar Pradesh.

Mandaviya took oath as a Cabinet minister, with the twin charge of health, one of the government’s most crucial focus areas amid the Covid pandemic, and chemicals and fertilizers, which he has now handled for a number of years.