PM Modi says COVID-19 vaccine dosage, pricing not decided yet; will finalise distribution plan with states soon

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on November 24 said distribution strategy for COVID-19 vaccines will be chalked out in 'collective coordination' with the states. He met chief ministers and representatives of various states to review the COVID response plan.

PM Modi said states should have a Steering Committee on vaccines and that distribution should be done according to scientific parameters. States should focus on additional cold storage, he said.

The prime minister said the development of potential vaccines was being monitored closely and that the Centre was in touch with global regulators, companies and other governments.

COVID-19 Vaccine Watch: What you need to know about manufacturing and pricing

“Government of India is keeping a track of each development in vaccine development. We are in touch with Indian vaccine developers and manufacturers. We are also in touch with global regulators, governments of other countries, multinational organisations and international companies,” PM Modi said.

“It is not certain whether there will be one, two or three doses of a vaccine. It is also not decided what will be the price of the vaccine. We still don't have answers to these questions,” PM Modi added.

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As of November 24, India’s COVID-19 tally stood at 91.7 lakh. Of these, 86 lakh patients had recovered. While there were 4.3 lakh ‘active’ cases, the country’s death toll from the outbreak had risen to 1.3 lakh.

While India has reported less than 50,000 daily COVID-19 cases for some time now, some states are showing resurgence in the number of infections.

While interacting with the chief ministers, PM Modi emphasised on carrying out more RT-PCR tests, and asked them to work towards bringing the positive rate to less than 5 percent and the fatality rate to less than 1 percent.

PM Modi noted that people started taking COVID-19 lightly as the recovery rate improved. He said that there was a need to again educate people about the dangers of COVID-19.

The prime minister added that while the country has been able to leave behind the worst phase of COVID-19, rising number of cases remains a cause of concern in some states.

The meeting was also attended by Union Home Minister Amit Shah and Union Health Minister Dr. Harsh Vardhan. Chief Ministers who participated in the virtual conference included Delhi's Arvind Kejriwal, Maharashtra's Uddhav Thackeray, Rajasthan's Ashok Gehlot, West Bengal's Mamata Banerjee, Chhattisgarh's Bhupesh Baghel and Gujarat's Vijay Rupani.