NEW-DELHI (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 18th November, 2020) DELHI, November 18 (Sputnik) - The Indian authorities are going to vaccinate high-risk� groups including doctors and elderly people aged 65 and above first when the vaccine becomes available for use, the local media reported on Wednesday.
Earlier in October, the Indian authorities said that the entire population of the country would receive free vaccinations.
"As per the discussions, vaccine administration is likely to happen in phases and top priority is to be given to high-risk population groups that include frontline workers, such as healthcare professionals and people from other departments working to manage the outbreak on ground, and the elderly who are at a greater risk of developing severe disease because of the low immunity and comorbidities," the Hindustan Times newspaper reported, citing a source close to the matter.
According to the source, the vaccination plan has not yet been completed and is under the development.
On Tuesday, Head of the Consulting group on coronavirus vaccine, Dr. Vinod Paul said that India expected the five vaccines to be tested in the country, including the Russian COVID-19 vaccine Sputnik V. Besides that, India is testing the Covaxin and ZycovD vaccines from Bharat Biotech and Zydus Cadila, the Serum Institute of India is testing the Oxford Covishield vaccine, and another vaccine is being tested by Indian Biological E. Ltd in cooperation with the American Dynavax Technologies Corp and the Baylor College of Medicine.
To date, India has confirmed more than 8,874,200 COVID-19 cases, with a death toll of 130,519 , according to the World Health Organization.
