India's COVID-19 vaccination drive likely to last beyond one year: Health ministry

The Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare said in a media briefing on January 12 that the COVID-19 vaccination process in the country will take more than one year to complete.

Responding to a question on whether states and Union territories will get to choose which vaccine they opt for, Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan said: "There is no such option available to any of the beneficiaries in any country."

This means, people will not get to choose the vaccine they will be administered. They can get either of the two COVID-19 vaccines that have got emergency use approval in India - Serum Institute of India's Covishield and Bharat Biotech's Covaxin.

Stage set for India's COVID-19 vaccination drive: All you need to know

Notably, the Drug Controller General of India (DGCI) has granted restricted emergency use authorization to Oxford-AstraZeneca’s Covishield and Covaxin.

“Both the vaccines have been authorised for emergency use and there should be no doubt about their safety. They have been tested on thousands of people and side-effects are negligible. There is no risk of any significance," said Dr VK Paul, Member (Health), NITI Aayog, on the efficacy of Covaxin and Covishield.

Bhushan then pointed out that the inoculation effect of the coronavirus vaccine takes 14 days to develop after the administration of both the dosages. "Hence it is imperative to maintain COVID-19 appropriate behaviour during that period," he added.

India will embark on the mammoth vaccination drive from January 16. During the first phase of the COVID-19 vaccine roll-out in India, approximately 1 crore healthcare workers and 2 crore front-line workers will be vaccinated against the novel coronavirus disease.
As per the COVID-19 Vaccines Operational Guidelines released by the health ministry, during the second phase of the COVID-19 vaccine roll-out, around 27 crore people will get their vaccine shots, which will include persons aged 50 years and above and those aged below 50 years but with associated comorbid conditions.

Coronavirus vaccine procurement status

The Centre has so far received 54.72 lakh doses of coronavirus vaccines and all the consignments from Bharat Biotech and SII are supposed to reach before January 14, the ministry informed.

“All states/UTs will receive vaccine doses, 1.1 crore from Serum Institute and 55 lakh from Bharat Biotech, by January 14,” the Union Health Secretary said.

Coronavirus vaccine cost 

The ministry also clarified that Hyderabad-based Bharat Biotech will be supplying 16.5 lakh doses of Covaxin free of cost to the government. The company will be charging the government only for the remaining 38.5 lakh doses at Rs 295 per dose.

Considering the total procurement is of 55 lakh doses, the price of Bharat Biotech’s Covaxin comes down to Rs 206 per dose.

“The Government of India agreed to procure 55 lakh doses of Covaxin from Bharat Biotech (BBIL), of which 38.5 lakh doses are priced at Rs 295/dose,” Bhushan said.

Additionally, the government has also signed a purchase order with SII for 119 lakh doses of Covishield at Rs 200 per dose.

Coronavirus vaccines in pipeline:

Four more coronavirus vaccines are in the pipeline and may get the Drug Controller General of India (DGCI) nod for emergency use authorization soon. They are:

Zydus Cadila’s coronavirus vaccine ZyCoV-D which has got the DGCI nod to conduct phase III trials in India.

Russia’s Sputnik V COVID-19 vaccine, which according to Dr Reddy’s Laboratories Ltd, meets the primary endpoint of safety in the phase II clinical trials in India.

Hyderabad-based Biological E (BE) completed the phase I trials of its protein subunit COVID-19 vaccine in December.

Pune-based Genova Pharmaceuticals Ltd is working on India’s only messenger RNA based COVID-19 vaccine candidate.

Follow our coverage of the coronavirus crisis here