The 18th edition of Hindustan Times Leadership Summit, which is being held virtually amid Covid-19 pandemic, began from November 19. The theme for this year's summit is 'Defining a New Era'. A number of politicians, business tycoons, medical experts, sports personalities are part of this year's virtual summit. The live discussions with leaders across sectors will be spread over four weeks and will be held every Thursday and Friday.
HTLS Day 1 begins with a discussion on Covid-19: Where Do We Stand. AIIMS director Randeep Guleria, dean of Brown University’s School of Public Health, Dr Ashish K Jha, Serum Institute of India CEO Adar Poonawalla were the speakers on the first day.
The Hindustan Times Leadership Summit started in 2003 to raise the level of discourse on critical issues, encourage interaction among leaders in important areas and present quality thought. The last seventeen summits have seen leaders from India and across the world putting across their views.
HTLS 2020: Timeline for Oxford vaccine
Promising to allocate at least 50% of the volume of the vaccine manufactured by his company to his own countrymen to help them battle the Covid-19 infection, Poonawalla indicated that SII had plans to roll out 100 million doses of the Covid-19 vaccine by February 2020. Read.
Father never imagined SII would be a global player one day, says Adar Poonawalla
"To see this happen in his (Cyrus Poonawalla) lifetime is the best reward for him. There were many challenges at that time," says Adar.
300-400 million doses of Oxford vaccine to be available by first quarter of 2021
"There is no reason why we should not achieve that number," Adar Poonawalla said.
India priority, says Serum Institute of India CEO
Serum Institute of India is not entering into any agreement with other countries at this moment as India is the priority. It has an agreement with Bangladesh
General public will have to pay ₹500-600 for Oxford vaccine: Adar Poonawalla
Adar Poonawalla said Oxford vaccine will be available at ₹500-600 to general public. The government will get it at a much cheaper rate.
Oxford vaccine ticks all four boxes: Adar Poonawalla
Oxford vaccine is the best as far as safety, price and storage facilities, says Poonawalla.
Will apply for emergency authorisation in India once UK clears Oxford vaccine: Adar Poonawalla
"After the UK government clears Oxford vaccine for emergency authorisation, we will apply for it too. It will take some time, just to clarify," Adar Poonawalla said.
We have to wait and watch: Adar Poonawalla
"In March, April, never did I imagine that the vaccines would achieve success so early. But the question is how long they would protect us against Covid-19. No one has an answer to it. We will have to wait and watch," says Serum Institute of India CEO Adar Poonawalla.
Covid-19 will be here for some more time, says AIIMS director
"It bypasses your defence mechanism. It goes to your lungs without showing any symptom. We have to be wary of this virus. We will have to live with it for some more time," Guleria said.
30-40% Indians to be vaccinated next year: AIIMS director
The percentage of population to get inoculated will depend on the number of the vaccines getting regulatory approval and the number of shots they are producing. " I won't hazard a guess. But I would hope 30 to 40 per cent Indians get vaccinated as soon as possible," Randeep Guleria said.
India's response to Covid-19 has been good: AIIMS director
India's response has been innovative. "The nine-month journey has shown us that India is a very resilient nation. We started with a scarcity of PPEs. We are doing millions of tests every day. We can face another pandemic. But there has to be more investment in public sector, in infrastructure," AIIMS director said.
100% immunity is not possible: Ashish K Jha
"There have been cases of reinfections as well. At this point, we are not looking at 100% immunity. Immunity looks like pretty durable for at least eight-nine months. My guess right now is that we may have to come up with booster shot every year," said Asish K Jha.
First published: Nov 19, 2020 16:50 IST