COVID-19 vaccine may be ready by December, may hit the market in this month: SII

Dr Suresh Jadhav, executive director, Serum Institute of India (SII), on Saturday said that India would get COVID-19 vaccine by March 2021.

In a good news for millions of Indians, Dr Suresh Jadhav, executive director, Serum Institute of India (SII), on Saturday (October 17) said that India would get COVID-19 vaccine by March 2021.

"India may get COVID-19 vaccine by March 2021 provided the regulators speed up the process as multiple manufacturers are working on it," Jadhav said at the India Vaccine Accessibility e-summit organised by HEAL Foundation in association with ICCIDD.

According to Dr Jadhav, India will get 60-70 million dosages of vaccines by December 2020 but they will hit the market in 2021 after the clearance of licensing.

Earlier on Saturday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi directed the government officials to to deliver and administer the COVID-19 vaccines on the lines of elections. 

“Three vaccines are in advanced stages of development in India, out of which 2 are in Phase II and one is in Phase-III,” a statement by the Prime Minister’s Office said. “The Prime Minister further directed that keeping in view the geographical span and diversity of the country, the access to the vaccine should be ensured speedily. The Prime Minister stressed that every step in the logistics, delivery, and administration should be put in place rigorously,” added the statement.

Meanwhile, the coronavirus cases in India nears 75 lakh on Sunday (October 17) with 61,871 new infections reported in last 24 hours. As per the Ministry of Health data, the total coronavirus tally in the country stands at 74,94,551. The number of cases saw a dip 11,776 since Saturday. 

Out of the total cases, 7,83,311 are active cases and 65,97,210 are cured/discharged/migrated cases. The active cases of coronavirus infection in the country comprise 10.45 per cent of the total case. The recovery rate in India stands at 88.03 per cent while the fatality rate is at 1.52 per cent.