India developing 7 more Covid-19 vaccines, according to its health ministry
India is developing seven more Covid-19 vaccines and also working on further vaccine development to inoculate every citizen of the country, Health Minister Harsh Vardhan said yesterday.
He said the government does not have any immediate plan to make the vaccines available in the open market and a decision on this would be taken as the situation demands.
"We are not dependent only on the two vaccines as the country is working on seven more indigenous vaccines. Simultaneously, we are also working on the development of more vaccines because India is a huge country and we need more players and research to reach out to everyone," Vardhan told reporters in Kolkata.
Three of the vaccines are in the trial phase, two are in the pre-clinical stage, one is in phase 1 and another in phase 2, the Health Minister said, reports our New Delhi correspondent.
"At present, Covid-19 vaccines are being administered on an emergency basis, under full observation and in a controlled manner. If the vaccines are released in the open market, there won't be any control over them. The decision will be taken as the situation demands," he added.
Two vaccines -- Covishield, developed by Oxford-AstraZeneca and manufactured by Serum Institute of India, and Covaxin by Bharat Biotech -- are being administered to healthcare and the frontline workers during the ongoing inoculation process which began on January 16.
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