Now Foreign Citizens Will Also Be Able To Get COVID Vaccine In India

New Delhi, 10th August 2021: Now foreigners living in India will also be able to get the vaccine. The Union Health Ministry took this decision on Monday. Foreign nationals will have to present their passport as identity proof instead of Aadhaar number. A senior Health Ministry official said, “Foreign nationals would also have to register on the CoWin platform before getting the vaccine. They have to provide a passport number for registration. After that, they will get the vaccination center and timings.”

According to a senior official, a large number of foreign nationals live in the country and most of them are concentrated in big cities. Given the high density of population in large cities, there is a possibility of the rapid spread of infection, as seen in the first and second waves. In such a situation, people who do not take the vaccine will not only be more prone to infection, but they can also work to spread the infection further.

The senior official announced that the most effective weapon to stop the third wave is to vaccinate everyone and for this, a campaign is being conducted for all people above the age of 18 years. There is a possibility of increasing the risk of the third wave due to the non-availability of vaccines to foreign nationals.

At the same time, the government said in the Rajya Sabha that almost all the personnel of the armed forces have been vaccinated against Covid. In a written reply in the Rajya Sabha, Minister of State for Defense, Ajay Bhatt said that 42,950 Army personnel, 6808 Navy personnel, and 14,604 Air Force personnel were infected by the pandemic. The government also says that neither the National Expert Group nor the WHO has made any recommendations regarding booster doses.

Meanwhile, news agency ANI has said in its report that the country is expected to get the sixth anti-corona vaccine this week. The drug regulator of India (DCGI) may get approval for the emergency use of Zydus Cadila’s vaccine this week. The company had applied for this approval last month. It is a three-dose vaccine.

Zydus Cadila has conducted trials at 50 centers

Ahmedabad-based pharmaceutical company Zydus Cadila has tested the maximum number of 50 centers in the country for this vaccine. The vaccine has also been tested on adolescents aged 12-18 years. However, sources say that the emergency use of the vaccine for adults is expected to be approved first.

Zydus Cadila to make 10-12 crore doses every year

Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya said that Zydus Cadila’s vaccine would soon get approval from the drug regulator. Zydus has developed an anti-corona vaccine under the brand name Zycov-D. DCGI had asked him for some more data about the vaccine last week. After getting the approval, the company has prepared a plan to produce 10-12 crore doses every year. Earlier in the press conference Dr. VK Pal, Member (Health) of NITI Aayog said that DCGI is reviewing Cadila’s vaccine for children.

So far five vaccines have been approved

If Zycov-D is approved for emergency use, it will be the sixth vaccine to be approved in the country. Earlier vaccines of Covishield, Covaccine, Sputnik-V, Moderna and Johnson & Johnson have been approved. Johnson & Johnson’s vaccine is a single dose. At the same time, Dr. Sarvil Patel, Managing Director of Cadila Healthcare, says that Zycov-D is the first plasmid DNA-based vaccine for use on humans. It has been found effective in terms of protection and effectiveness against corona.