Key Points:
- Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan said that the government ‘NEVER’ spoke of ‘Vaccinating the Whole Country.’
- Dr. Balram Bhargava said “Vaccination would depend on the efficacy of the vaccine and we aim at breaking the chain of the virus transmission. If we are able to vaccinate a ‘Critical Mass’ and break the transmission chain, WE MAY NOT HAVE TO VACCINATE THE ENTIRE POPULATION.”
- ‘Among All Big Nations’, India’s average positivity rate is the lowest, said Bhushan.
- The government has also appointed an Institutional Ethics Committee that functions independent of the government and the vaccine manufacturer.
On December 1, 2020, Tuesday, Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan was a part of a Press Conference. In clear statements, Bhushan said that the government ‘NEVER’ spoke of ‘Vaccinating the Whole Country.’ India has reported 95 L infections and 138 K (thousand) related deaths so far.
The Health Secretary, when asked about ‘When a Vaccine can be provided to Everyone in the Country,’ he said,
“I just want to make it clear that the government never spoke of vaccinating the entire country. It is important that we discuss such scientific issues, based on factual information only.”Dr. Balram Bhargava, Director General of ICMR reasoned the statement of Not Vaccinating the Entire Country saying,
“Vaccination would depend on the efficacy of the vaccine and we aim at breaking the chain of the virus transmission. If we are able to vaccinate a ‘Critical Mass’ and break the transmission chain, WE MAY NOT HAVE TO VACCINATE THE ENTIRE POPULATION.”
‘Among All Big Nations’, Bhushan said that India’s average positivity rate is the lowest. The average is 3.72 per cent and with 211 cases per million, which is the lowest per million count. Bhushan also mentioned that in the past week, the European nations are seeing the cases graph increase leading to a cumulative decrease in India’s positivity rate. The cumulative positivity rate fell from 7.15 per cent to 6.69 per cent between November 11 and December 1. The number of recoveries had exceeded the number of new Covid-19 infections in India in the month of November, Bhushan added.
📡LIVE NOW📡
Media briefing on current #COVID19 situation in the country
📍National Media Centre, New Delhi
Watch on PIB's🔽
YouTube: https://t.co/air0JUkgeD
Facebook: https://t.co/ykJcYlvi5bhttps://t.co/qwkDVx4qXj— PIB India (@PIB_India) December 1, 2020
Questions about the allegations against Serum Institute of India’s CoviShield vaccine were also thrown at the Health Ministry representatives. The Health Secretary said that ‘The vaccine timeliness in India will not be affected in any manner by adverse events.’ Bhushan also said, “All subjects sign a consent form before the trials that detail all the possible adverse effects of the vaccine shot.”
Recently, a volunteer from Chennai had served a legal notice to SII stating ‘sudden collapse of medical condition’ after vaccination, which the SII has denied, saying Covishield is “safe and immunogenic.” Both parties have now served legal notices regarding the issue.
The government has also appointed an Institutional Ethics Committee that functions independent of the government and the vaccine manufacturer. This is to make sure of safe vaccination as the vaccination takes place in different situations and places.