Apollo Hospitals and Fortis Healthcare are open to importing vaccines.
India is expecting 156 million doses of the vaccine from August to September, reports Ruchika Chitravanshi.
The API of Paracetamol, a fever and pain medication, has grown 25 per cent from Rs 450-480 per kg in December 2020 to Rs 580-600 per kg in April. When compared to the pre-Covid prices of December 2019, the surge is much steeper -- around 140 per cent, reports Sohini Das.
Drugs that are used to treat Covid or used by people as immunity boosters have seen a jump in sales and, in turn, rankings.
While there is a shortage of testing kits, manpower and capacities, India does not have other scalable testing options.
'This government did not have any plan for safety stocks of essential medicines.'
If that outcome were to happen, the Modi government would be responsible for presiding over a self-inflicted national catastrophe.
When compared to the domestic sales of April 2019, the growth is around 37 per cent. However, compared to the previous month (March), the growth is 18.4 per cent.
Artificial shortages and brazen hawking of the drug on the streets at 15 times the normal price rule the day as the official machinery tries desperately to stamp out the parallel market, reports Sohini Das
Delhi, which has been one of the worst affected states, accounted for less than two per cent of total vaccinations in the 18-44 age-group.
But the numbers have continued to rise in 23 states including Bihar, Goa, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Kerala.
Initial data has shown immunity triggered by the two mRNA vaccines -- Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna -- lasts for at least six months
While the Indian government has been procuring Covid-19 vaccines at low prices so far, manufacturers have to declare the prices of vaccines they would supply to the open market (industries, private hospitals, etc) and state governments before May 1. Sohini Das reports.
Sputnik V is already approved in India and Sinovac is unlikely to come in as it does not meet the criteria.
The second wave of the pandemic has not only crippled medical infrastructure in terms of hospital beds, but has also led to bottlenecks in invasive ventilators and medical oxygen capacities and supplies.
One challenge for many laboratories in ramping up is the shortage of trained manpower for collecting samples, report Sohini Das, Vinay Umarji and Virendra Singh Rawat.
'In case of shortage of other raw material, like filters and bags, one can try to develop another vendor. However, for chemicals as critical as adjuvants, this is not possible'
This will be an upfront payment for the vaccine doses that these two companies will supply to the government.
'The US has invoked the Defence Act and banned export of raw materials.' 'This is as good as banning vaccines.'
The production of Covaxin will increase from the current 10 million doses per month to 60 million-70 million by July-August.
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