Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi promised on Thursday that his administration will run the biggest vaccination program on the planet in 2021.
Modi asked Indians to remain calm and focused until vaccines can be fully distributed, avoiding “rumors” that might spread hysteria and interfere with the campaign.
“The number of new cases of Covid-19 [Chinese coronavirus] is decreasing in the country now,” Modi said on Thursday.
“We are preparing to run the world’s largest vaccination program in the next year,” he continued. “In our country, rumors spread quickly. Different people for their personal gains, or due to irresponsible behavior, spread various rumors. Maybe rumors will be spread when vaccination begins. Some have already begun.”
Modi appealed to his people to unite against the Chinese coronavirus as a common enemy and “refrain from forwarding messages on social media without checking.”
The prime minister accompanied this message with a change of political slogans, replacing his motto for 2020, “No carelessness until the medicine arrives,” with “Yes to medicine and yes to caution” for 2021.
Modi made his remarks after officially dedicating a new branch of the All India Institute of Medical Services (AIIMS). The network of AIIMS hospitals already includes ten facilities that are either operational or under construction.
India’s Drug Controller General, VG Somani, teased on Thursday that a vaccine will soon be endorsed and distributed by the government. Three companies are reportedly close to receiving emergency-use authorization: Pfizer, AstraZeneca, and Bharat Biotech.
“We will have a Happy New Year with something in hand, that’s all I can hint at,” he said, promising there has been “no compromise on the safety or efficacy” of a vaccine in the rush to begin distribution.
“With the manufacturing and stockpiling license, Serum Institute of India (SII) has already been able to stockpile 75 million doses of the Oxford AstraZeneca vaccine and by the first week of January we will have 1 million doses. Nobody across the world has so much stock and we can start supplying as soon as we get the approval. After the phase 2 data of Novovax is released, we will start stockpiling the other vaccine too,” an SII official stated.
Somani made his encouraging remarks after reports that emergency authorization for the vaccines under consideration could be delayed, possibly beyond the end of January.
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