Amid the second wave of COVID-19, AIIMS Delhi Director Randeep Guleria on Saturday said that the country is preparing to ramp up the vaccination drive as more vaccines shall be available in India in the next two months.
While jointly briefing the nation on the vaccination plan ahead along with Medata Chairman Naresh Tehran, Dr Guleria stated that the elderly should be vaccinated at the earliest, looking at their comorbidities and their high mortality rate.
"Vaccines will be available in large amount probably in about 2 months' time as companies that are making vaccines will start opening up their manufacturing plants, there will be more vaccine doses available. We are hopeful that we will also get approval for the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine. We will have more vaccines from different companies available in our country in the coming six to eight weeks."
"I still believe that looking at comorbidities and chance of dying due to COVID-19 is much higher in those with comorbidities and elderly, we should focus on trying to vaccinate them at the earliest and also look at the larger population who can be vaccinated in a graded manner," he said.