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New Delhi: The CEO of Serum Institute of India (SII) Adar Poonawala has recently said that the vaccination drive for SII's vaccine may begin from January 2021. He expects that their coronavirus vaccine for immunisation against the COVID-19 will get the emergency authorisation by the end of this month. Poonawala also expects that every Indian will be vaccinated by October next year, following which normal life could return to India.
However, Poonawala also said that the license for the wider use of the vaccine might come in at a later date. As of now, the emergency authorisation is expected by the month-end. It is only possible if the regulators give a green signal.
The Ministry of Health is aiming to vaccinate around 20-30 per cent of the Indian population, said the SII Chief Poonawala. He further said that once 20% of India receives the vaccine, the confidence of the people will hopefully come back.
By July 2021, the government wants to procure about 300-400 million doses of the vaccine by SII. The institute is preparing to make enough vaccine doses for both government and private use.
However, the government is planning to give only 100 COVID-19 vaccines at each of the vaccination sites. The Health Ministry in its SOP to all the states and union territories said that 100 people will be vaccinated in each of the vaccination drive sites. The number can increase from 100 t0 200 if sufficient resources are available to give the vaccination shot.
The SOP said, "If in any case, more than 200 people are being vaccinated within a session then a whole team of 5 people will have to be deployed separately (one vaccine officer and four vaccination officers)."
Earlier in December, Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine was given emergency authorisation in the United Kingdom, and the United States of America.