Ministry Of Science Says ' Covid Vaccine Unlikely Before 2021'; Withdraws Statement Later

The Ministry Of Science said in a statement that the vaccine for coronavirus is not possible until 2021. The statement was edited after a few minutes.

(Representative Image/ Getty)

New Delhi: While India awaits for the COVID vaccine due to the massive surge in numbers, in a recent development, the science ministry has taken back its claim which said " No COVID vaccine by 2021". The Ministry of Science and Technology edited a press release issued on Sunday moments after it was published on the Press Information Bureau website. The Ministry of Science and Technology edited the release to remove its statement that "a vaccine is unlikely to be ready for mass use before 2021". ALSO READ|ICMR Aims To Launch Indigenous Covid-19 Vaccine By August 15; Partners With Bharat Biotech To Fast-Track Project The Ministry of Science and Technology published a press release on Sunday on the 'Indigenous Indian Covid-19 vaccines in the global race to end the pandemic' by Dr. TV Venkateswaran, on the Press Information Bureau website. The press release earlier stated that along with the two Indian vaccines -- Covaxin and ZyCov-D -- 11 out of 140 vaccine candidates have entered the human trials across the globe and added that neither of these is likely to be ready for mass use before 2021. Few minutes later, the statement was edited, and the line stating 'vaccines are unlikely to be ready before 2021,' was removed. The fresh release does not mention the statement in the same paragraph where it was written before. ICMR  aims to launch Covid vaccine by August 15th India's apex medical body ICMR on Friday had said that it aims to launch the world's first Covid-19 vaccine, the indigenously developed Covaxin, by August 15, and has told select medical institutions to fast-track its clinical trial approvals. While the announcement by ICMR was criticised by the experts as they say such short timeline is not feasible to release a vaccine, the ICMR also issued a clarification in which it defended its statement. “ICMR’s process is exactly in accordance with the globally accepted norms to fast-track the vaccine development for diseases of pandemic potential wherein human and animal trials can continue in parallel,” the ICMR said in the clarification. India’s first indigenous COVID-19 vaccine "COVAXIN" has been developed by Bharat Biotech International Limited (BBIL) got a nod from Drugs Controller General of India for phase I and II human clinical trials for which the human clinical trial are scheduled to start across India in July.