Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan on Tuesday said that seven more COVID-19 vaccine candidates are in stages of clinical trials. He made the announcement after receiving the second dose of the Covid-19 vaccine at Delhi Heart and Lung Institute.
Harsh Vardhan said, “Around seven more COVID vaccine candidates are in clinical trials. Some of them are in the advanced phase of the trials. Around two dozen vaccines are in pre-clinical trials.”
The Union Health Minister said that 430 districts in the country have not reported a single case of coronavirus in the last 28 days.
Watch Now ! Union Health Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan gets inoculated with 2nd dose of #COVID19Vaccine at Delhi Heart & Lung Institute @PMOIndia @MoHFW_INDIA #LargestVaccineDrive https://t.co/AbSV6oqDLJ
— DrHarshVardhanOffice (@DrHVoffice) March 30, 2021
“The situation is under control but we don’t have to be complacent in terms of observing COVID appropriate behaviour,” he said.
His wife Nutan Goel also took the second dose of the COVID-19 vaccine today and he informed that neither he or his wife felt any kind of side effects after taking their first doses of the vaccine.
“Both Indian vaccines are safe and effective. A lot of people still have doubts regarding vaccines. I urge them not to believe what is being circulated in WhatsApp university,” he further said.
“There are only a few rare cases wherein people contracted COVID-19 after taking vaccines. Even if someone tests positive after taking vaccines, it minimalises the chances of their hospitalization or admission to ICU wards,” he added.
On March 2, he took the first dose of the covid vaccine. As many as 6,11,13,354 vaccine doses have been administered till 8 am on March 30, which is considered to be the largest vaccination drive in the world.
India had started its vaccination drive on January 16 with priority given to all healthcare and frontline workers in the first phase and the second phase started on March 1 where doses are being administered to people above the age of 60 and those between 45 and 59 years with specific comorbidities.
The government has recently decided to vaccinate all the ones above 45 years from April 1. The Union health ministry informed on Tuesday morning that India reported 56, 211 fresh COVID-19 cases and 271 related deaths in the last 24 hours.
