With the development of Covid 19 Vaccine entering the final phase, government is determined to leave no stone unturned ensuring availability of the vaccines even in the remotest village of India. They have started dicussions on a wide range of issues, from logistics to ethical questions, to set the stage for a smooth supply and effective use of a vaccine when it is ready.

A government official who is involved in the discussions said that there have been at least two meetings on preparing the ground for the first vaccine. There will be more talks in the next few weeks. There are complex issues.

The person aware of this matter has said that officials of several ministries as well as the concerned department have held extensive discussions. Also, he said that the Corona management team hopes that by next year the manufacture of its vaccine will be possible.

The authorities are tracking and carefully gauging the development of at least nine Covid-19 vaccines – of which the brightest hope is the candidate of Oxford AstraZeneca.

Officials of the concerned department have started discussing further plans in India, with positive results coming up about the vaccine being prepared to prevent corona infection in the world. Once the vaccine is ready, plans are being made for its storage to use.

Officials are closely watching the development of at least nine vaccines – including two Chinese – of which the brightest hope is the Oxford AstraZeneca candidate. Pune-based, Adar Poonawala-led Serum Institute has partnered with AstraZeneca to manufacture the vaccine in India. Human trials (combined phase 2/3 trials) on this vaccine are to begin in India next month.

“Internal consultations have started so that we are fully prepared and can avoid any last-minute mess. One of the major issues is distribution in remote areas like North East India and how we have to set up large scale cold storage facilities in such areas, ”the official said.

Officials are closely following the progress of two indigenous vaccines, Covaxin and ZyCov-D, developed by Bharat Biotech and Zydus Cadila, respectively. Both are in Phase 1 of the trial.

Covid-19 cases in India crossed the 50,000-mark mark in a single day for the first time on Sunday, taking the total number of infections in the country to 1,434,476.