In a nearly 50-minute interview to Karan Thapar for The Wire, Prof. Kang, who played a critical role in the development of India’s indigenous rotavirus vaccine as well as in the development of vaccines for cholera and typhoid, said that it’s likely the Oxford AstraZeneca vaccine could be the right one or the best one for India. This vaccine only requires storage in a temperature range from -2⁰ to -8⁰ Celsius which can be provided by an ordinary refrigerator. It does not require a freezer.

Prof. Kang, a fellow of Britain’s Royal Society, who’s interview will go up on The Wire’s website around 7.00 p.m. tonight (17/11), told The Wire that India should “tailor” its vaccination programme “to what can be done, in which places and for which people”. In other words, the country could need a variety of specific responses including a variety of different vaccines to handle its diversity.

However, Prof. Kang expressed concern about the manner in which the government could identify people who fall into the four already identified priority groups for vaccination. These groups are first, healthcare professionals, second, police and the armed forces, third, people above 50 years and, fourth, people below 50 years with co-morbidities. Prof. Kang raised the question: “How well will we do in identifying people and then sequencing between them?”