Chennai: Even if Covid-19 vaccine came out on the first of January 2021, its delivery could be prolonged for younger, healthier citizens across the world.
Speaking at an online event of WHO, World Health Organisation chief scientist Soumya Swaminathan said that the use of the vaccine should be prioritised for high-risk sub-sections of the population like healthcare workers, frontline workers, and the elderly.
‘People tend to think, ah, on the first of January or the first of April, I’m going to get a vaccine and then things will be back to normal,’ she said, reported The Washington Post.
‘It’s not going to work like that. There will be a lot of guidance coming out, but I think an average person, a healthy, young person, might have to wait until 2022 to get a vaccine.’
In India, Health Minister Harsh Vardhan had said that prioritisation of groups for Covid-19 vaccine will be based on two key considerations—occupational hazard and risk of exposure to infection, and the risk of developing severe disease and increased mortality.
On how the government plans to roll out the vaccine, he said that it is anticipated that supplies of vaccines would be limited in the beginning.
‘In a huge country like India, it is critical to prioritise vaccine delivery based on various factors such as risk of exposure, comorbidity among various population groups, the mortality rate among COVID-19 cases, and several others,’ he said.