Policymakers deliberating to identify groups of people who will receive Covid-19 vaccine first

NEW DELHI: Policymakers are actively holding deliberations to identify groups of people who will first receive the Covid-19 vaccine when it is developed, officials said.

Speaking at an international symposium on Novel Ideas in Science and Ethics of Vaccines against Covid-19 pandemic, Officer on Special Duty (OSD) in the ministry of health and family welfare Rajesh Bhushan said prioritising who should get the vaccine first is a topic being discussed both within and outside the government.

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“There is an emerging consensus that frontline workers are the people who have the best claim over who should get the vaccine first. But while that question engages us and there is no finality on the question, the issue of who will be on priority list and who comes after frontline healthcare workers and that is if they come first then who are the people that would follow them,” he said.

He said deliberations are on whether it will be the elderly or it will be peo