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India will have enough doses to inoculate all citizens by December, the head of the national task force on Covid-19 vaccines said on Thursday, dangling the prospect of a final victory against a virus that is now devastating homes and families across the country. Between August and December, Niti Aayog member Dr Vinod Kumar Paul said, 216 crore vaccine doses would become available, which means that there would be surplus doses after every Indian is vaccinated.

“Overall, 216 crore doses of vaccines will be manufactured in India between August and December, for India and for Indians. There should be no doubt that vaccines will be available for all as we move forward,” he said at a press briefing. Paul mentioned eight vaccines — a significant increase from the two currently in use — and the number of doses for each that are likely to be available in the country of 130 crore people in the five-month period ending December.

People might have to take a third vaccine dose to protect themselves against the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) in future, but there is no “concrete data” at this point, All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) director Dr Randeep Guleria has told a news channel in an interview. He said the possibility of a third dose would hinge on two factors: how long the immunity triggered by the existing two-dose vaccines would last and if new variants would result in vaccine efficacy coming down.

In the interview, Guleria, a member of India’s national task force against Covid-19, also spoke on how long the devastating second wave could last, when the pandemic may come under control, why it is important to vaccinate children, and if beneficiaries can take two different vaccines as part of the two-dose regimen. On the need for a third booster dose, he said “we may be moving in that direction as far as Covid-19 is concerned”, citing recommendations by doctors in many cases for an annual vaccine against the common influenza.

The Union health ministry said on Tuesday that early trend of decline in daily new cases of the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) and related fatalities has been noted in India. Addressing a press conference, Union health secretary Rajesh Bhushan said that the number of daily cases of Covid-19 are on decline in at least 18 states and union territories.

"More than 1 lakh active cases are there in 13 states, 50,000 to 1 lakh active cases in six states and less than 50,000 active cases in 17 states," he said at the press conference.

Even as India faces a second wave of Covid-19, World Health Organisation (WHO) Chief Scientist Dr Soumya Swaminathan on Monday said a prelim data has showed that Indian variant is more contagious and transmissible, adding that there is heterogeneity in the country in terms of spread of the infection. Urging people to get the vaccines, she said inoculation is important as it will reduce the severity of coronavirus.

In a exclusive interview to a news channel, Swaminathan said that the double mutation strain consists of variants found in Brazil and South Africa and it evades body’s immune response.

Maharashtra and Delhi, hit hard by the second wave of coronavirus, have seen a weekly decline in active cases. Maharashtra that once carried half of the active caseload burden in India has seen the decline consistently for the second week. Two other big states — Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh — have also seen active caseload burden come down.

The four states have put extensive lockdown measures in place. The reduction is also due to the fact that people have again returned to following the COVID-appropriate behaviour like wearing masks, following social distancing norms and not venturing out of homes unless there is some emergency. We can expect some more respite in the weeks ahead as more and more states going ahead with more restrictions.