The company has set an affordable ceiling price of USD 3 (around Rs 225) per dose, it added.
Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan on Friday said the COVID-19 vaccination drive will be extended in the coming days and asserted that there should not be any misconceptions about the two Indian vaccines being administered in the country.
The allocation for health ministry for 2017-18 is Rs 47,352.51 crore in comparison to allocation in 2016-17 of Rs 37,061.55 crore.
India, which has shipped 'Made In India' COVID-19 vaccines to around 25 nations, on Wednesday urged the international community to stop 'vaccine nationalism' and actively encourage 'internationalism', underlining that hoarding superfluous doses will defeat global efforts to attain collective health security and combat the pandemic.
Four children died during a routine vaccination drive in three different villages of Mohanlalganj area on the outskirts of Lucknow on Saturday."Minutes after being administered doses for prevention of measles, tuberculosis and Vitamin A deficiency, these children developed a strange kind of sickness. By the time they were rushed to the nearest hospital, they were dead," said District Magistrate Anil Kumar Sagar.
Since India is one of the largest vaccine producers in the world, it is the country's 'moral responsibility' to fast-track vaccine development process to break the chain of coronavirus transmission, ICMR Director General Dr Balram Bhargava said referring to the two vaccine candidates developed indigenously.
According to highly placed sources in NPPA, the reduction in prices following the latest exercise will range between six and 53 per cent.
Covishield vaccine production won't be hit due to the fire, Serum Institute of India Chief Executive Officer Adar Poonawalla said. The Manjari facility is where the Covishield vaccine used in the nationwide inoculation drive against the pandemic is made.
... 'Or any country which has reasonable vaccine coverage.' 'The emergence of Omicron clearly proves that if we allow a virus to circulate in an unvaccinated population, it would take a form which could be a Variant of Concern, or a new variant.'
Doctors fear that the number of people suffering from water borne diseases and children falling prey to measles and other communicable diseases would increase once stagnant sea water recedes from the villages of the Sunderbans.
'Essentially there are three things the government should be doing: Identify who you are going to get your vaccine from, figure out how you are going to pay for it, and figure out how you're going to deliver it and to whom.'
'People are already sending congratulatory messages. But I have said, "Please don't until the trials are over".'
Crippled by poverty and the coronavirus lockdown, Sunil's family in Dumrikhurd village in Chauri Chaura police station area was forced to conduct a dummy funeral for him, setting an effigy on fire.
'We know there will be an end to this epidemic temporarily.' 'We probably should get a couple of years break before it comes again.'
After blaming the Centre for the drought as well as the floods in the state, the Mayawati-led Uttar Pradesh government has now held the United Progressive Alliance-led government responsible for the spread of various diseases in the state.UP Health Minister Anant Kumar Misra on Tuesday blamed the Centre for the spread of encephalitis, malaria, measles and other vector-borne diseases, which were threatening to turn into an epidemic.
The UNICEF is the world's largest single vaccine buyer, procuring more than 2 billion doses of various vaccines annually for routine immunisation and outbreak response on behalf of nearly 100 countries.
The PM's visit would signal a strong intent towards making sure India becomes a beneficiary as vaccines become a massively traded commodity in the coming years.
Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan on Thursday sought keen oversight and personal indulgence of health ministers, principal secretaries and additional chief secretaries of states and union territories to lead the second nationwide mock drill on the COVID-19 vaccination scheduled to be held on January 8.
Can Interferon alfa-2b treat COVID-19 effectively?
'Whenever you roll out: effectiveness is important, operational logistics are important, side effects are important and vaccine hesitancy is important.'
'Rolling out the vaccine is not a major challenge in India.'
Poonawalla said the price will be around USD 5-6 per dose with an MRP of around Rs 1,000 for the two necessary doses.
Serum Institute is investing $200 million to create capacities for the COVID-19 vaccine. Sohini Das profiles its 39-year-old CEO.
'In 2009 we had 741 new cases of polio. This was the highest in the world. We ran the most apolitical crusade ever. We had the support of every government. We were never short of funds. The central government gave us Rs 11,000 crore a year. In 2011 we had 42 new cases. From 42 to 0 was our most difficult phase,' Mission Director Anuradha Gupta tells Rediff.com's A Ganesh Nadar in an exclusive interview about India's monumental campaign to eradicate polio.
Adults are as likely as children to fall prey to diseases that immunisation can potentially prevent.
The Pune-based company's chief executive Adar Poonawalla said the company, which is the largest vaccine maker in the world, is putting $200 million at risk by manufacturing nearly 300 million doses before the final nod to launch the vaccine in market, which is expected at best by the end of the year.
'We lost our place in being first in the epidemic, when it hit India so hard, but we were actually the epicentre of the epidemic from essentially April 2020, for almost an entire year. We had such high cases. We were the country that had the most mixed response.'
'It was unfair to expect him to continue to keep on supplying vaccines without being given a firm commitment or a financial grant of any sort.'
The WHOS has long held that the coronavirus is spread primarily by large respiratory droplets when an infected person coughs or sneezes.
What might be useful is targeted assistance to those sectors and individuals that are disproportionately affected, suggests Mihir S Sharma.
'I lived in a chawl for 33 years, aur potty ke liye line lagaya, holding a dabba in my hand (I would queue up to go to the loo, with a bucket in my hand). Even after I became a hero, I had to stand in line. It has become so ingrained in my bones that it cannot come out easily.'
'Even after vaccines are given, precautions like using a mask and maintaining social distancing have to be taken.'
'If it is airborne -- and we don't know till what distance it can be airborne -- then the mask becomes a definite.' 'Just social distance is not enough.' 'You need a mask in addition to social distance.'
'A very vast majority of us will catch it at some point, about 8 out of 10 won't feel much worse than a common cold's nuisance, if at all, but some will die.' 'A very, very vast majority, at least about 98 per cent of those infected, if not more, under any circumstances, will live through it,' observes Shekhar Gupta.
Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah said the damages in the state due the worst floods in more than a century would run into "many thousands of crores" but he would approach the Centre only after the final assessment is complete.
'What is hindering us is the fear for the disease.' 'For those below the age of 55 years, it's a mild disease.' 'So take care of yourself, your family and your parents.'
The rate of immunisation is low mainly because of rumours that the vaccines would have a sterilising effect on the children.
Lives "will once again be at risk" if funding is not urgently secured, United Nations officials have said on the eve of the first anniversary of a military crackdown that forced them to flee their country.
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