Vaccines sent to foreign countries not at expense of Indian citizens: Dr Harsh Vardhan

New Delhi: Union Health and Family Welfare Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan on Tuesday told Rajya Sabha that vaccines to foreign countries are not being sent at the expense of Indian citizens and that a healthy balance is being maintained.

During ‘Question Hour’, responding to a question raised by Sukhram Singh Yadav of SP, he said “Yesterday, 30 lakh people got the vaccines. The criteria has been fixed according to WHO and other international standards, it is a dynamic process”.

Anyone who wants a vaccine, can register on portal and get vaccinated, vaccine is free in all government hospitals whereas private hospitals can only charge Rs 250, in which Rs 100 has been fixed for hospital arrangements.”

“Replying to the concerns expressed by the Members that the Government has been lagging behind in vaccination drive’’, he further said that vaccines worth Rs 5.94 crore have been sent to 72 countries till now. Science should benefit everyone, he added.

Taking a supplementary question by Mr Yadav about vaccination of people above 60 years at their home, the Health Minister said, “This issue has been flagged to us. In hospitals, people are kept under observation for 30 minutes after getting vaccinated. This matter will be raised before the expert committee, if it does not compromise their health, it can be considered.”

On the new strains of Coronavirus, Dr Harsh Vardhan also said that the national expert group were abreast of all developments within and outside the country.

Talking about the efficacy and coverage of the vaccines against UK, South Africa and Brazil variants of COVID-19, the Health Minister also said “This information is already in public domain. We have access to genome sequencing data. Right now, experts are clear that a particular vaccine is effective against virus mutation”.

He also informed the House that Rs 35,000 crore has been allocated for vaccines in the budget. (UNI)