This could burst the bubble for people who expected they would get the Covid-19 shot by the year-end, or even in the first quarter of 2021.
Mass immunisation under which large sets of the country’s general population (excluding high-risk vulnerable groups) will be able to access the vaccine in all likelihood will only be in the second half of 2021. But for the country’s population of 1.3 bn to get vaccinated through the government programme could take a minimum of 18 to 24 months, experts told TOI, if the first round of immunisation begins by March/April.
This is assuming that there will be an approved vaccine in the market by the first quarter of 2021 in India, and with which most experts concur. Interestingly, the launch dates of vaccines are being pushed back frequently by the government.
