PRIME Minister Narendra Modi on Monday said the two already approved made-in-India COVID-19 vaccines are more cost-effective than any other in the world and have been developed as per the country’s needs. Interacting with Chief Ministers of all States to discuss the COVID-19 situation and the vaccination roll-out in the country, Modi also said that apart from the two already approved vaccines, four others are in the pipeline. “Our experts have taken all precautions to provide the countrymen with effective vaccines,” he said.

 

The two approved COVID-19 vaccines in India more cost-effective than other vaccines in the world and have been developed as per our needs and situation, he said. India is entering a decisive phase of vaccination in the fight against COVID-19, he asserted, pointing that the world’s largest vaccination programme will start from January 16. Public representatives are not part of the three-crore corona warriors and frontline workers to be vaccinated first, Modi said. In the first phase, the cost of vaccination for these 3 crore people would be borne by the Central Government, he added. India’s drugs regulator has approved Oxford vaccine Covishield, being manufactured by the Serum Institute, and indigenously developed Covaxin of Bharat Biotech for restricted emergency use in the country.

 

WITH 16,311 new coronavirus cases being reported in a span of 24 hours, the lowest in around six-and-half months, India’s COVID-19 tally rose to 1,04,66,595, while the recoveries have surged to 1,00,92,909, according to the Union Health Ministry’s data updated on Monday. The death toll reached 1,51,160 with 161 more fatalities, the lowest in the last seven-and-half-months, the data updated at 8 am showed. The number of people who have recuperated from the disease surged to 1,00,92,909, pushing the national COVID-19 recovery rate to 96.43 per cent, while the case fatality rate was recorded at 1.44 per cent.