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India Set to Mass Produce COVID-19 Coronavirus Vaccine
India is ready to mass produce a COVID-19 coronavirus vaccine when scientists give the go-ahead, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said in his Independence Day speech on Saturday. Also launching a national project to roll out health identities for each citizen.
In annual celebrations scaled down due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Modi identified health and economic self-reliance as the key priorities for his government.
“Not one, not two, as many as three coronavirus vaccines are being tested in India,” he said from the ramparts of the Red Fort in the old quarters of Delhi, wearing a flowing orange and white turban and covering his mouth and nose with a scarf of the same colors whenever anyone came close to him at the ceremony.
“Along with mass-production, the roadmap for distribution of vaccine to every single Indian in the least possible time is also ready,” Modi said. “The country is also ready for mass production of those vaccines.”
Launching a National Digital Health Mission for the country of 1.3 billion, Modi said in his seventh Independence Day speech that records of every health test, disease, medication and other details will be kept under a health ID.
“Technology will be judiciously used to reduce challenges in treatments,” he said. “Whether it is making a doctor’s appointment, depositing money or running around for documents in the hospital, the mission will help remove all such challenges.”
Russia Announces mass production of COVID-19 coronavirus vaccine
Meanwhile, Russian President Vladimir Putin on Saturday announced that Russia will also start mass production of the worlds first COVID-19 coronavirus vaccine. Putin also said Russia had been first in the world to approve a covid-19 coronavirus vaccine.
Putin’s announcement about the vaccine was met with caution from western scientists and the World Health Organization. Who said it still needed a rigorous safety review.
“The first batch of the COVID-19 coronavirus vaccine developed by the Gamaleya research institute has been produced,”Russia President Vladimir Putin said.
Putin said the covid-19 coronavirus vaccine was safe and that his own daughters had already been inoculated. The clinical trials for the vaccine have not yet complete and final stage testing involving more than 2,000 people only started this week.
Western scientists were skeptical, with some warning that moving too quickly on a covid-19 coronavirus vaccine could be dangerous. However Putin denounced criticism as an attempt to undermine Moscow’s research.
Source: Reuters
