PM Modi will be holding a virtual meeting with manufacturers of the vaccine against Covid-19. This meetinng will mark the third such interaction of PM Modi with focus groups amid a spurt in Covid cases.
During the meeting, scheduled to be held through video conference at 6 pm on Tuesday, the Department of Biotechnology (DBT) will make a presentation and also coordinate with all the participants, sources added.
On Monday, the Prime Minister held a series of discussions with top doctors and representatives from the pharmaceutical industry.
Those expected to be present include representatives of top drugmakers from India and abroad, including the companies whose vaccines have already been approved by the Government of India.
So far, two vaccines — Oxford/Astrazeneca vaccine COVISHIELD manufactured by Serum Institute in India and indigenously developed COVAXIN by Bharat Biotech — are being administered in India, while a third vaccine Sputnik V — developed in Russia and to be imported and sold in India by Dr Reddy’s Laboratories — has also been approved by the Indian drug regulator.
The central government on Monday announced that all adults will become eligible for a coronavirus vaccine and doses can be sold via the market from May 1. The decision came amid a growing clamour for wider access as the country grapples with a devastating surge of Covid-19 infections.
India reported 259,170 new Covid-19 cases in the last 24 hours, according to the Union health ministry’s dashboard at 8:30am on Tuesday, pushing the country’s infection tally to 15,321,089.
India is dealing with a deadlier, more infectious second wave of the coronavirus pandemic which is exhausting the country’s already overburdened health care system to its limits, with reports emerging of hospitals running out of ICU beds and crucial supplies such as oxygen cylinders.
More than 126 million coronavirus vaccine doses have been administered across the country till now, as per the health ministry’s provisional report till 8pm on Monday.
