AIIMS Director says India just days away from getting Covid-19 vaccine

On the issue of COVID-19 vaccination drive in India, he said, "India to roll out COVID-19 vaccines for a large part of the country and therefore we will see the vaccine available in our country in the very near future."

When asked about how much time is needed for the roll-out of COVID vaccine in the country, Dr Guleria said, "Now, we have a data, and Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine has been approved based on the studies in UK, Brazil and South Africa. There is also data from Serum Institute of India (SII). I think, once the data is shown to the regulatory authority, we should get approval for the vaccine in the county within a few days. I would say days rather than weeks or months."Dr Guleria, who is a member of the national task force on Covid-19 management, said that the country has a "robust plan as far as the vaccination is concerned".

"We vaccinate children and pregnant women as part of our universal immunization program. Using the same platform to store vaccines at 2 to 8 degrees centigrade, it will be easier for us to store COVID-19 vaccines," he added while emphasising on the easy storage process in comparison to Pfizer vaccine of minus 70 degrees centigrade.

Meanwhile, the Pune-based Serum Institute of India has sought emergency approval for the vaccine--Covishield-- developed along with global pharma giant AstraZeneca and Oxford University.

In what could be termed as New Year gift, Adar Poonawalla, Chief Executive Officer, Serum Institute of India on Monday said 40-50 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine have already been stockpiled, adding that Covishield rollout is expected in January.

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