From Our Special Correspondent
Daijiworld Media Network
Bengaluru, Apr 14: Union minister for chemicals and fertilisers D V Sadananda Gowda, who took his second dose of vaccine after 40 days taking the first shot at KC General Hospital in Bengaluru on Wednesday, said the Centre was planning to start giving vaccination even to those aged below 45 years.
Preparations are underway for giving vaccine even to those below 45 years, he told reporters.
The union minister appealed to all people above 45 years to take the vaccine without delay.
Sadananda Gowda said the country has sufficient quantities of Covishield and Covaxine vaccines for administering all people above 45 years as about 22 crore doses of vaccines have been produced so far.
As many as 11 crore to 12 crore people have already been administered the vaccine all over the country, he said.
India has supplied six crore doses of vaccines to as many as 90 countries that had requested it, the minister said.
In addition, Sadananda Gowda said the government has decided to import the Sputnik V vaccine from Russia.
"The government has decided to expedite the vaccine coverage in a more extensive manner in the coming days,’’ he said.
The union minister also indicated that the government has decided against exporting Remdesivir injections in order to ensure that the medicine was available for the treatment of Covid infected patients.
Sadananda Gowda said seven pharmaceutical companies have licences for manufacturing Remdesivir injections. These injections necessary for the treatment of Covid patients cannot be stored for long and must be utilized within three months. As there was lesser demand domestically, the companies were exporting the Remdesivir injections besides reducing the manufacture quantities.
Now, with the spike in the Covid infections in different parts of the country, the government has directed the companies to increase the production besides prohibiting exports, the minister said.
The union minister said the Covid vaccine campaign was going on very nicely. The government is not merely interested in increasing the coverage but to prevent wastage and ensure that all deserving persons get the vaccine.
"I have taken the second dose of the vaccine and there is no adverse reaction," he said complimenting the medical staff of the KC General Hospital for vaccinating 11,000 people so far.