New Delhi: AIIMS Chief Dr. Randeep Guleria said India hopes to vaccinate one crore people daily by the end of July 2021. The country will have to increase the production of vaccines in a big way, if it hopes to achieve its Covid-19 coverage targets.

To achieve this target with a comprehensive strategy for procurement of doses from abroad, he said. India needs to ramp up production and get as many vaccines as it can from abroad.” He emphasized the need for a ‘holistic solution’ to vaccine procurement, citing the manufacturers’ preference for dealing with a single authority instead of multiple ones.

The AIIMS Chief Guleria said, making an important clarification on the use of immunity boosters like multivitamins and zinc supplements. He said they do not to any harm, yet they should not be taken for extended periods. Instead, he advised people to eat healthy and get these dietary constituents from natural sources.

Referring to the need to focus the vaccination drive on pregnant women, Dr Guleria said, pregnant women have a high morbidity and mortality, so we should vaccinate them quickly. He said, going by global data, the benefits of vaccines far outweigh their negative effects as far as this segment is concerned. He also said, Covaxin is an inactivated virus vaccine which is similar to the flu vaccine, thus it should be safe for pregnant women.