Govt never spoke about vaccinating entire population against Covid, says Health Secretary

The government has never spoken of inoculating the entire country as and when a vaccine for coronavirus is approved, Health and Family Welfare Ministry Secretary Rajesh Bhushan said on Tuesday on being asked about how much time it will take to vaccinate the entire country.

The government had earlier demarcated a priority list, which included around 1 crore healthcare professionals, police and armed forces personnel, people aged above 50 years in age and those below 50 with co-morbidities. No decision has yet been taken on whether the vaccine will be given to people who have already recovered from the disease, Bhushan said.

'We may or may not need to vaccinate all. If we can reach a critical mass before doing so, then it is not required, clarified ICMR chief Dr Balram Bhargava. He said the 'critical mass' refers to a point when there are enough people, who have been vaccinated to break the transmission chain.

Bhushan assured that Covid vaccine tests are being monitored on a daily basis. He said the Institutional Ethics Committee, which is independent of the government and the manufacturers of the vaccine, reports adverse events during the trial to the Drug Controller General of India.