Vaccine for health staff by February

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, November 20

Oxford University’s collaborator Serum Institute of India (SII) has said it can deliver the first batch of the Oxford-AstraZeneca Covid vaccine by February next for the country’s priority groups — health workers and the elderly.

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The SII today also said it would apply for emergency use authorisation of the vaccine in India soon, as the UK had approved the vaccine and rolled it out for the local population. The promising news came on a day when the national Covid caseload touched 90.04 lakh.

Meanwhile, the Centre has decided to deploy teams to 10 states with 80 per cent of the country’s active case load. The Centre has rushed four teams to Haryana, Rajasthan, Gujarat and Manipur to visit the districts with high number of cases and support the state efforts. More teams to other states will follow.