Good News: India Ranks 3rd In Terms Of The Number of COVID-19 Vaccine Doses That India Has Committed To Procure Over 1.4 Billion Doses! Here’s How The Vaccine Will Be Distributed in India?

The global race to create a safe and effective vaccine against the COVID-19 vaccine has entered a critical stretch. Moderna and Pfizer have released very promising final trial data, which has raised the hope of countries struggling to fight the epidemic.

In the past few weeks, several candidates in the global COVID-19 vaccine race have inched closer to regulatory approval.

According to the report, India has confirmed the procurement of more than 1.4 billion doses of the COVID-19 vaccine, which is more than 1.1 billion doses of the EU (European Union) and 1 billion doses of the U.S.

A report in the Wall Street Journal noted that India ranks 3rd in terms of the number of COVID-19 vaccine doses that India has committed to procure. The United States and the European Union are in the first and second positions respectively.

As Covid-19 vaccines are getting ready…
Purchase agreements are being tied up too…
Chart courtesy @WSJ pic.twitter.com/aGgJNmRLur

— Syed Akbaruddin (@AkbaruddinIndia) November 18, 2020

The report is based on Duke College’s “Launch and Scale Speedometer” initiative, which systematically studies the factors that support or hinder the delivery of medical innovation to low-income countries.

According to the “launch and scale speedometer” initiative, in terms of “national advance market commitments for COVID-19 vaccines”, India ranked third, with the United States and the European Union ahead of it.

According to this report, India confirmed its dose purchases of more than 1.4 billion doses of the coronavirus vaccine, which is greater than the 1.2 billion doses of the EU and the 1 billion doses of the United States. However, the United States and the European Union rank high due to the purchase of potential doses.

Meanwhile, India has given priority to identifying who should be vaccinated first.

In addition to this, the United States has signed for more than 1.3 billion doses of potential drug purchases so far, the EU has also signed more than 750 million doses of a potential vaccine.

With 1 billion confirmed dose purchases and more than 1.3 billion potential dose purchases, the United States alone has acquired more than 2.4 billion vaccine doses, indicating that it may inoculate its entire population more than once.

The national vaccine management expert group is working on a time-bound procedure to vaccinate most people as soon as a fully effective vaccine is launched.

On Wednesday, the US pharmaceutical giant Pfizer and its German partner BioNTech confirmed that the final test of the mRNA-based vaccine candidate against coronavirus, BNT162b2, shows that the effectiveness of the jab is 95%.

The companies hope to produce up to 50 million doses of vaccine globally by 2020 and 1.3 billion doses by the end of 2021.

According to the researchers at Duke College’s “Launch and Scale Speedometer” initiative, so far, due to advance market commitments, more than 7 billion doses of coronavirus vaccine have been booked, before any clear final result of the effectiveness of the vaccine candidates to be released.

Researchers are also concerned that these high-level deals and transactions to increase current offers by high-income and middle-income countries may affect the fair and equitable distribution of COVID-19 vaccines around the world.

A recent global analysis of the Advance Market Commitment (AMC) for global coronavirus vaccine candidates stated that India has also leveraged its manufacturing capacity to pre-order over 400 million doses of potential coronavirus vaccines and negotiate for another billion doses. 

Taking into account the fact that most vaccine candidates against the COVID-19 require two doses if the total dose of these vaccines is approved for use within a period of time, and should be enough to provide vaccine for half of the country’s over 1.3 billion population.

Ensuring universal access to “safe and effective” vaccines against the COVID-19 will be a challenge. The central government has begun preparing a blueprint for the launch of a coronavirus vaccine in the country, once it is available.

Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan said on Thursday: The COVID-19 vaccine will be available in the next few months. It is estimated that between July and August, 400 to 500 million doses will be provided to 25 to 30 crore people.

How The Coronavirus Vaccine Will Be Distributed in India?

The existing digital platform of the health ministry “eVIN” for the UIP will be used for the distribution and delivery of the coronavirus vaccine.

A text message will be sent to the recipient mentioning the date, time, and location to receive the dose of the vaccine.

To avoid duplication and track beneficiaries. Everyone on the immunization list will be linked with their Aadhaar card. However, if a person does not have an Aadhaar card, a government photo identity proof can be used.

But the Indian government is planning to start distributing the coronavirus vaccine to healthcare workers first and then followed by other groups in sequence.

On Thursday, Pune-based Serum Institute of India’s CEO, Adar Poonawalla indicated that Children in India may have to wait a little longer to receive the first dose of the coronavirus vaccine when it is available in the country because the deadly viral infection is less of a nuisance for them.

The distribution drive would take place over a year. For this, the union territories and will form a three-tier system in accordance with the instructions of the center.