Panel to guide selection of vaccines holds 1st meet, discusses broad parameters

New Delhi: A working group on Covid-19 vaccine under the National Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation (NTAGI) held its first meeting on Monday. The committee discussed broad parameters guiding the selection of Covid-19 vaccine candidates for the country.
The working group has been established to support NTAGI by providing evidence-based recommendation on the use of Covid-19 vaccines, officials at the health ministry told ET.

“The committee held its first meeting on Monday. The experts discussed the current status of Covid-19 vaccine development in India,” said an official. The group will identify gaps that may arise during the development cycle or at the implementation stage. It will also track the capacity and supply potential of vaccine manufacturers.

"It will understand the safety, efficacy effectiveness, route, dose and frequency of administration of soon-to-be-available candidate Covid-19 vaccines and repurposed vaccines,” the official added.

The mandate of the working group also includes evaluation of disease surveillance data for identification of high-risk or target population and understanding vaccine economics. "It will also identify the platform for vaccine delivery to reach the identified priority population," added the official.

Another expert group is working on the financial resources required for the procurement of Covid-19 vaccine and various options of financing it. The expert group on vaccines last week met with executives of manufacturers of Covid-19 vaccines and discussed timelines, infrastructure needs such as blood assay labs, production capacity and pricing, people aware of the matter told ET.