India should be leading research into the mixing and matching of different Covid vaccines in a single patient, a leading WHO scientist has said, given its huge population and constraints on supplies.
Dr Soumya Swaminathan’s comments come as discussion of Covid is set to dominate the opening of a new parliamentary session in India on Monday, with opposition parties seeking to target the Modi government over its handling of the devastating second wave.
The pace of India’s vaccination drive will also likely be among the issues raised. About 23 per cent of India’s population has received their first dose of a Covid-19 vaccine and only about 6 per cent is fully inoculated, according to a Reuters vaccine tracker. The government has said it aims to vaccinate the entire adult population by the end of this year, a target that seems increasingly out of reach.
India reported 38,164 new coronavirus infections in the 24 hours ending Monday morning, and deaths rose by 499.
Meanwhile, the UK prime minister Boris Johnson has urged the public to remain cautious as England braced for the lifting of all remaining lockdown restrictions.
Experts have warned of the risks of unlocking as the Delta variant of Covid-19 — which was first detected in India — spreads. Professor Neil Ferguson, a scientist on the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage), told the BBC that the unlocking would lead to 100,000 daily cases, with about 1,000 hospitalisations.
