The Supreme Court questioned petitioners who challenged the accuracy of India's COVID-19 vaccine adverse effect data, suggesting they unduly trusted UK figures. The court heard arguments about alleged deaths due to the Covishield vaccine and reserved its order.
The Supreme Court of India has advised a petitioner, who claims to have suffered disability due to the side effects of the first dose of a Covid-19 vaccine, to file a suit for damages instead of pursuing his plea before the court. The court suggested that filing a suit could provide quicker relief than waiting for a potentially lengthy decision on the petition.
A study conducted by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) has observed that COVID-19 vaccination did not increase the risk of unexplained sudden death among young adults in India, the government informed Parliament on Friday.
Amid concerns over dangerous side-effects of the Oxford's COVID-19 vaccine, India is evaluating all serious adverse events post-vaccination to determine the causality aspects of Covishield and Covaxin, an expert associated with the process said on Saturday.
The worker was vaccinated at about 11.30 am on Tuesday at a Primary Health Centre (PHC) in the district and he is said to have developed chest pain at around 2.30 am on Wednesday.
One 'severe' and 51 'minor' cases of AEFI (adverse events following immunisation) were reported among healthcare workers who were administered the coronavirus vaccine in Delhi on the first day of the COVID-19 vaccination drive on Saturday, official figures showed.
The government cannot be held liable to compensate for the deaths due to an adverse event following immunisation (AEFI) post administration of Covid-19 vaccines, the Centre has told the Supreme Court.
The study titled 'Serendipitous COVID-19 Vaccine-Mix in Uttar Pradesh, India: Safety and Immunogenicity Assessment of a Heterologous Regime' has been uploaded on medRxiv, a preprint server and is yet to be peer reviewed.
Out of the 447 adverse events following immunisation, only 3 required hospitalisation.
Choubey said till February 4 total 81 AEFIs, which is 0.096 per cent of the total beneficiaries who have been administered Covaxin, have been reported.
Of the 1,48,266 beneficiaries who were administered the vaccine on Monday, 8,656 were from Bihar, 1,822 from Assam, 36,888 from Karnataka, 7,070 from Kerala, 6,665 from Madhya Pradesh, 7,628 from Tamil Nadu, 10,352 from Telangana, 11,588 from West Bengal and 3,111 were from Delhi.
In a letter to all states and Union territories, the ministry highlighted that under the emergency use authorisation, coronavirus vaccination is indicated only for 18 years and above. If required, COVID-19 vaccine and other vaccines should be separated by an interval of at least 14 days.
A number of Indian medical experts on Monday supported calls from an eminent British Indian cardiologist for a full safety review into the use of Oxford/AstraZeneca's Covid-19 vaccine, administered in India as Covishield, over feared serious side effects such as heart attack and stroke.
The Union health ministry said in a statement on Monday that over 23,000 adverse events have been reported since the vaccination drive involving Covishield and Covaxin vaccines started in the country and of these 700 cases were reported to be serious.
According to a report by the National AEFI Committee, a 68-year-old man died due to anaphylaxis (severe allergic reaction) after being vaccinated on March 8, 2021.
The nurse was on Saturday admitted to hospital as she complained of uneasiness and fainted shortly after taking the shot, during the nationwide vaccination programme.
The Centre has ruled out door-to-door vaccination of people and said the inoculation will be done at identified COVID Vaccination Centres, both government and private, registered on COWIN for 'good, germane and rational reasons'.
Addressing a press conference, NITI Aayog member (Health) V K Paul said concerns about adverse effects and serious problems post immunisation, as of now, seem to be unfounded, negligible and insignificant, and stressed that both the vaccines -- Covishield and Covaxin -- are safe.
The Subject Expert Committee on COVID-19 examined the data and deliberated on the EUA application on Monday.
The Centre, however, noted that the last national serosurvey findings have shown that over 70 per cent of the population is still susceptible to the disease.
A bench of Justices L Nageswara Rao and B R Gavai said bodily autonomy and integrity are protected under Article 21 of the Constitution.
A senior citizen in West Bengal's Dhupguri area died allegedly after being administered the Covishield vaccine, prompting his family members to lodge a police complaint, an official said on Tuesday.
'he Centre has not issued any mandate, the stand of centre is that it should be 100 per cent but it is not a mandate'
'Scientifically the effect and change of Delta plus has to be watched through our INSACOG system. This has to be detected and we have to see its presence in the country'
A group of public health experts, including doctors from All India Institute of Medical Sciences and members from the national taskforce on COVID-19, have said that mass, indiscriminate and incomplete vaccination can trigger emergence of mutant strains and recommended that there is no need to inoculate those who had documented coronavirus infection.
India has flattened its Covid-19 graph and 146 districts have reported no new case of the viral disease in the last seven days, 18 in 14 days, six in 21 days and 21 districts in the last 28 days, Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan said on Thursday.
Such persons are expected to obtain the advice of their doctor before deciding to avail of the precaution dose or third dose.
According to sources, around 10 crore doses of the Sputnik V vaccine is likely to be imported for emergency use in the country in the next six to seven months.
The senior officials of the health ministry apprised the minister on various improvements that have been made to make the pan India dry run glitch free, such as number of telephone operators has been increased to answer every possible query from the teams on the ground conducting the dry run.
The number of healthcare and frontline workers vaccinated against the coronavirus in the country has surpassed 85 lakh, the Union health ministry said on Monday.
Those intending to undertake international travel for education purposes, joining employment and as part of the Indian contingent to the Tokyo Olympics will be allowed to take the second dose of Covid vaccine Covishield prior to the prescribed time interval of 84 days after the first dose.
Vardhan noted that COVID-19 infection among those vaccinated would be very mild and not progress to an advanced stage.
'There is no emergency of a third wave that we are rushing for booster doses.'
The first dry run of the vaccination drive took place across 125 districts covering all States/UTs on January 2. The dry run was also conducted to familiarise the state, district, block, and hospital-level officers on all aspects of the COVID-19 rollout.
'There is more likelihood of dying from lightning than from vaccine induced blood clots.'
Laws governing compensation in case of adverse side effects for Covaxin and Covishield may differ in accordance with the kind of approvals given, say legal experts.
As for Bharat Biotech, the Subject Expert Committee (SEC) on COVID-19 of the CDSCO asked the firm to expedite volunteer recruitment for the ongoing clinical trial and said it may conduct interim efficacy analysis for further consideration of restricted emergency use approval for its vaccine Covaxin, they stated.
Based on this price, state governments, private hospitals, industrial establishments, etc would be able to procure vaccine doses from the manufacturers.
Private hospitals can charge up to Rs 250 per dose of COVID-19 vaccine, official sources said on Saturday as India prepares to vaccinate people aged above 60 years and those over 45 with comorbidities from March 1.
As India gears up to vaccinate people above 60 years of age and those over 45 years with comorbidities against COVID-19 from March 1, the Union health ministry on Friday said the facility of on-site registrations will be available so that eligible beneficiaries can walk into identified vaccination centres, get themselves registered and get inoculated.