New Delhi: Health Minister Harsh Vardhan on Saturday said that India will be in a position to vaccinate at least all of its adult population by the end of this year.

Asserting that it is a challenging time for everyone, the Health Minister gave this statement during a COVID-19 pandemic situation meeting. He said: “Between August and December 2021, India will have procured 216 crore vaccine doses, while by July this year, 51 crore doses will be procured,”.

The Health Minister also posited that the virus might mutate in the future and endanger children, and said that the health facilities are being upgraded to deal with any such exigency. He also said that now smaller states are showing an increase in COVID-19 cases and added that the state governments should be extremely cautious.

States must follow the basic principles of COVID-19-appropriate behaviour along with testing, tracking, tracing, treating, and now vaccinating to fight against the pandemic, he said. The minister also reiterated the need to dedicate 70 percent of vaccines provided by the central government for the second dose and told states and UTs to ensure there is no wastage of jabs.

In subsequent months, there will be an exponential rise in the production of vaccines in the country as the Centre is in the process of supporting vaccine manufacturers for ramping up vaccine availability in the country, he said. As per the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, as many as 3,57,295 people recovered from the COVID-19 disease across the country in the last 24 hours, which is more than the number of fresh cases reported today.

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