New Delhi: Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan on Tuesday asserted that vaccine against the novel coronavirus is expected in India by early next year, i.e, 2021.

“We’re expecting that early next year we should have vaccine in the country from maybe more than one source. Our expert groups are formulating strategies to plan on how to roll out the distribution of the vaccine in the country”, said Harsh Vardhan during Group of Ministers meeting.

His statement comes at a time when India’s COVID-19 caseload surpassed 71 lakh-mark and the death toll reached 1,09,856. The number of people who recuperated from the disease crossed 62 lakh pushing the recovery rate to 86.36 percent.

Earlier, All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) Director Dr Randeep Guleria had said that the vaccine for COVID-19 can be expected in India by January 2021 if all goes as per the plan. He had also made it clear that the initial availability of doses will not be enough for the entire country.
The AIIMS chief said that the big challenge after the vaccine is developed will be its production and distribution on such a large scale.