India will start vaccination only after expert nod: PM seeks suggestions

New Delhi: Addressing an all-party meeting on Covid vaccines delivery and distribution, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that state governments' advise will be sought on the matter as to who all will get the inoculation first, and urged political leaders to write in their suggestions.

"Experts believe that the vaccines will be ready in few weeks, and Indian scientist are very confident of developing them," Modi said.

Public health will be top priority for the government as pricing of the vaccines are concerned, he said adding that the vaccination process will start only after the experts give nod.

Government has suggested first vaccination for frontline Covid warriors and health workers to get vaccinated first.

The all-party meeting was called for suggestions for feedback on the progress made so far and was attended by all political parties in Parliament.

The Prime Minister had earlier interacted with team of developers and visited three cities on Saturday to conduct an extensive review of the vaccine development and manufacturing process, going to the Zydus Biotech Park in Ahmedabad, the Bharat Biotech in Hyderabad and the Serum Institute of India in Pune.

With 36,595 new coronavirus cases in the past 24 hours, India's overall tally increased to 95,71,559 on Friday, as 540 more fatalities took the Covid-19 toll to 1,39,188, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare said.

India witnessed a 3% rise in fresh cases and 2.7 rise in deaths since Thursday.

Currently, there are 4,16,082 active cases, whereas 90,16,289 patients have been discharged so far, including 42,916 discharged in the past 24 hours.

The recovery rate stands at 94.2 per cent and fatality at 1.45 as per cent, the Ministry said.

The samples tested up to December 3 is 14,47,27,749 including 11,70,102 tested on Thursday, said the Indian Council of Medical Research.