COVID-19 Vaccine Update: Oxford Vaccine To Be Available For Public By April Next Year | Price, Efficacy & All You Need To Know

As per Poonawalla, every Indian will get vaccinated probably by the end of 2024.

(Image: AFP)

Cornavirus Vaccine: As concerns are rising again over Covid-19 cases in India are on rise again, Serum Institute of India CEO Adar Poonawalla said that the Oxford vaccines maybe rolled out for public by the month of April in next year. The announcement may come as a huge relief for the country, which is again seeing a rise in its daily cases after a let-up period. When will Oxford vaccine available ? As per Poonawalla, for the healthcare workers, elderly and other frontline warriors, the vaccine should be available by around February 2021, and by April for the general public. What will be the cost of the shots? Poonwalla was quoted as saying by news agency PTI that the vaccine will be priced at a maximum of Rs 1,000 for two necessary doses for the public, depending on the final trial results and regulatory approvals. He said: “It will be around USD 5-6 per dose with an MRP of around Rs 1,000 for the two necessary doses.” When will vaccination target be achieved? As per Poonawalla, every Indian will get vaccinated probably by the end of 2024. He divulged out the information at the Hindustan Times Leadership Summit (HTLS), 2020. "It will probably take two or three years for every Indian to get inoculated, not just because of the supply constraints but because you need the budget, the vaccine, logistics, infrastructure and then, people should be willing to take the vaccine. So these are the factors that lead up to being able to vaccinate 80-90 per cent of the population. "It will be 2024 for everybody, if willing to take a two-dose vaccine, to be vaccinated," Poonawalla said. Poonawalla said 30-40 crore doses of the Oxford vaccine will be available by the first quarter of 2021 What is the efficacy of the vaccine? Asked about the efficacy of the vaccine, he said the Oxford-Astrazeneca vaccine is so far proving to work very well even in elderly people, which was a concern earlier. "It has induced a good T-cell response, which is an indicator for your long-term immunity and antibody response but then again, time will only tell if these vaccines are going to protect you in the long term. Nobody can answer that for any of the vaccines today," Poonawalla said. Side-effects There has been no major complaints, reactions or adverse events. The efficacy and immunogenicity results from the Indian trials will come out in about a month-and-a half. Do Check The Following Podcast (based on PTI inputs)