Photos| HTLS 2020 Day 1: Randeep Guleria, Ashish K Jha & Adar Poonawala

Amid the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, which has brought nearly 200 countries face-to-face with the largest public health crisis the world has seen in a century, this year’s edition of the Hindustan Times Leadership Summit (HTLS) is a completely virtual affair bringing together global leaders from all spheres of life. Live discussions with the celebrity participants will be spread over the span of four weeks scheduled twice a week on Thursdays and Fridays. The theme of this year’s edition, beginning November 19, is ‘Defining a New Era’ as the world learns to live and deal with the coronavirus. ...read more

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Updated on Nov 20, 2020 11:26 AM IST

Dr Randeep Guleria, Director, AIIMS and Dr Ashish K Jha, Dean, Brown University School of Public Health, began the 18th Hindustan Times Leadership Summit in conversation with R Sukumar, Editor-in-Chief, Hindustan Times. The coronavirus pandemic is going to be around for some time and people will have to learn to live with the viral disease, the medical experts cautioned while also expressing hope about the development of the vaccines against Covid-19. (HT Photo)

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“I think the virus is going to be there for a very long time and I would say we are learning to live with it. And with the vaccine, we will learn to live in a way that doesn’t cause us the level of disruption that it did this year,” Dr Ashish K Jha said at the inaugural session of the summit. On the vaccine front, Jha said that while a lot remain unknown about the virus, evidence so far about the vaccines has been largely reassuring. (HT Photo)

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On whether India can fight another pandemic in the future, Dr Guleria said the country’s response has been “pretty good.” “What this has shown us is that we are a very resilient nation.”. Guleria, among the first speakers at HTLS 2020, also cautioned that the challenge would be to reach out to the frontline population for getting them vaccinated. (HT Photo)

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Serum Institute of India (SII) CEO and owner Adar Poonawalla (right) in conversation with HT’s Health Editor Sanchita Sharma announced that India could well expect a suitable and effective vaccine for the contagious viral disease by the end of the year or early next year. (HT Photo)

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Emphasising that the initial doses of the vaccine would be allocated for all frontline workers, health officials and the elderly who are more vulnerable, Poonawalla said that if timelines were not delayed by unexpected circumstances, the common citizen would be able to get vaccinated by March- April 2021. (HT Photo)

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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. He also said that efforts were on to make the vaccine affordable for all at an initial price range of Rs 500 to Rs 600. (HT Photo)