COVID-19 vaccine expected in early 2021: Harsh Vardhan

Patna, Oct 13: India is likely to have a vaccine against the coronavirus by early next year. It is likely to come from several sources.

Union Health Minister Dr. Harsh Vardhan said in a meeting on Tuesday that a vaccine would be available by the year-end.

"We're expecting that early next year we should have vaccine in the country from maybe more than one source. Our expert groups are formulating strategies to plan on how to roll out the distribution of the vaccine in the country," ANI reported.

Our utmost priority is how to ensure a vaccine for each and everybody in the country," he had said earlier.

Meanwhile, Johnson & Johnson said that its COVID-19 vaccine study has been put on hold temporarily owing to an unexplained illness in a trial patient.

Earlier this month J&J had joined a list of vaccine makers that have moved an experimental coronavirus shot into late-stage human studies in the United States. The company has since then begun dosing around 60,000 volunteers. This marked the first big trial of a vaccine that may work just after one shot.

It may be recalled that AstraZeneca Plc had temporarily halted tests of its vaccine after a trial participant fell ill. While it remains halted in the US, the trials have resumed in a number of other countries.