Continuous monitoring of evolution of mutations is being done by the Indian SARS- CoV-2 Genomics Surveillance Consortium (INSACOG), Minister of State for Health Ashwini Choubey said.
Upon opting to create a health ID, only basic demographic and geographic information of the beneficiary like name, year of birth, gender, mobile number and address are collected.
Responding to a question on vaccine hesitancy, he said at the start of COVID-19 vaccination drive, fewer than planned beneficiaries attended the vaccination sessions due to transient technical issues in CoWIN portal, vaccine hesitancy, among others, which have progressively been addressed.
On whether Aadhaar is mandatory for registering on the Co-WIN application, Choubey, in a written reply, said, 'No, Aadhaar is not mandatory for registration on Co-WIN portal.'
Government of India has accordingly advised states to upgrade health infrastructure based on the case growth trajectory in respective states and districts, besides taking stringent containment measures, Minister of State for Health Ashwini Choubey said in a written reply.
Other companies in India involved in COVID-19 vaccine development are Premas Biotech, Gennova, Mynvax, Epygen Biotech, Luxmatra Innovations, Biological Evans. All candidates are in preclinical development stages, the minister said.