The government may look at areas around Thonnakkal, in Thiruvananthapuram district, for the facility. If successful, this would be one of the few sites of Sputnik V owned by Russian firms outside that country. Shine Jacob and Sohini Das report.
As India gets ready to roll out one of the largest vaccine programmes, billionaire Mukesh Ambani on Tuesday said his group is working with authorities to provide technology tools and backbone for mass inoculation against COVID-19. Ambani's telecom venture Jio was rolled out four years back, offering free voice calling and dirt-cheap data. Today, Jio is India's largest telecom operator with over 400 million users, each connected to the internet. At a Facebook event, Ambani said the government's digital push kept the country running even during the pandemic and is now helping in the rollout of one of the largest vaccination programmes.
This will be an upfront payment for the vaccine doses that these two companies will supply to the government.
Third seeds Barbora Krejcikova and Rajeev Ram defeated local favourites Astra Sharma and John-Patrick Smith 7-6(3), 6-1 to win the mixed doubles title at the Australian Open on Saturday.
India has airlifted more than 6 million COVID-19 doses to nine countries in Phase-I under its initiative termed "Vaccine Maitri".
ONGC was the top gainer in the Sensex pack, surging around 7 per cent, followed by IndusInd Bank, Infosys, Tech Mahindra, Reliance Industries, HCL Tech and TCS. On the other hand, HDFC, ICICI Bank, Axis Bank, SBI and M&M were among the laggards.
'I would go for Bharat Biotech's Covaxin and not Covishield, and that is my personal judgment since at least 11,500 have got at least one dose by now and it has proven to be safe.'
About 18-19 coronavirus vaccine candidates are in different clinical trial stages and may be available in the coming months, Health Minister Harsh Vardhan said on Monday.
Among major Sensex movers, Ultratech Cement rose over 4 per cent, Bajaj Finance by 2.63 per cent and Maruti by 2 per cent. BSE Sensex closed up by 133.14 points at a record high of 47,746.22. NSE Nifty rose by 49.35 points at its lifetime high of 13,981.95.
The approval by the Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) was given on the basis of recommendations submitted by a COVID-19 subject expert committee (SEC) of the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO).
Two men, aged 32 and 48, were given the first shot of the 'Covishield' vaccine, being manufactured by Pune-based Serum Institute of India, at Bharti Vidyapeeth's Medical College and Hospital on Wednesday. The dose will be repeated after one month, an official said.
The production of Covaxin will increase from the current 10 million doses per month to 60 million-70 million by July-August.
The prime minister in his intervention at the session on "global economy and global health" also flagged the issue of facilitating international travel and talked about the mechanism of mutual recognition of vaccine certification as a means of achieving this, according to the text of his intervention shared by his office.
Prime Minister Modi has said India's vaccine production and delivery capacity will be used for the benefit of all humanity to fight the COVID-19 pandemic. He said last week India was ready to do everything possible for a healthy planet.
People with cancer have an appropriate, protective immune response to COVID-19 vaccines without experiencing any more side-effects than the general population, researchers said on Tuesday.
The recommendation holds true for both indoors and outdoors, the CDC said.
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.
In a rare reference to private health matters, the 94-year-old monarch backed the National Health Service led vaccination programme in the UK during a video call earlier this week with health officials coordinating the rollout across England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.
The parties intend to start the production of Sputnik V in the beginning of 2021, it added. Currently, Phase III clinical trials are approved and are ongoing in Belarus, the United Arab Emirates, Venezuela and other countries, as well as Phase II-III in India, RDIF said.
A source closely involved in logistical arrangements said the movement of vaccine doses is likely to start from early Tuesday morning through road and air routes amid elaborate police security.
An alert government in Delhi should have begun government-to-government discussions with Moscow the moment it came to know that Russians were developing a vaccine. That is to say, almost an year's time has been lost, observes Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
Bharat Biotech recruited 13,000 participants for the Phase-3 clinical trial of Covaxin. This is one of the largest efficacy trials held in the country.
As per RDIF, Sputnik V has a number of key advantages, including that there are no strong allergies caused by Sputnik V.
"In addition to spreading more quickly, it also now appears that there is some evidence that the new variant - the variant that was first identified in London and the south east (of England) -- may be associated with a higher degree of mortality," Johnson said on Friday in his address at a virtual briefing from 10 Downing Street.
Amongst the many characters in the Mahabharata, the impetuous Ashwathama comes across as a warrior lacking maturity and forethought.
Three COVID-19 vaccine candidates, including two indigenous ones, are in different phases of development in India.
'You have sufficient protection if you take the second dose of the Covishield vaccine at 12 weeks, because this vaccine works in a way where it provides protection in the first dose.'
If the government had paid enough to begin with, or if it had made serious advance purchase commitments that allowed the vaccine producers to mobilise necessary investment, then it is possible to imagine more free or subsidised vaccines such as are available in developed economies, asserts Mihir S Sharma.
The vaccine candidate -- 'Covaxin' -- is being indigenously developed by the Bharat Biotech in collaboration with the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR).
More vaccination would have been done in India if the State had not had complete control of all vaccination, notes Ajay Shah.
On production capacity of Covishield, the vaccine being manufactured and supplied by Serum in India under a licensing agreement with Oxford and AstraZeneca, he said the present capacity is 130 million doses per month and always try to increase it further.
HAL is also integrating the Advanced Short Range Air-to-Air Missile onto the Mark 1A. Each Tejas will carry two of these missiles.
David Quarrey, 55, a 10 Downing Street aide, had tested negative in his pre-travel test but tested positive a week after his return when the National Health Service flagged that someone on his flight had been traced as COVID-positive, The Sunday Times reports.
Shringla visited Dhaka in March last after assuming office of the Indian Foreign Secretary in January this year.
In a joint statement posted on their respective twitter accounts, the companies said Serum Institute Chief Executive Officer Adar Poonawalla and Bharat Biotech Chairman Krishna Ella communicated their combined intent to develop, manufacture and supply the COVID-19 vaccines.
The international team of researchers combined lab-based experiments and epidemiology of vaccine breakthrough infections, showing that the Delta variant is better at replicating and spreading than other commonly-observed variants.
'Prevention plus vaccination is what is going to take us into better territory by September or October.'
The Delta variant of COVID-19, or the B1.617.2 variant of concern (VOC) first identified in India, is about 60 per cent more transmissible than the Alpha strain identified in the United Kingdom and also reduces the effectiveness of vaccines to some extent, UK health experts report.
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.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi's announcement of providing free inoculation to all adults will entail total spending of anywhere between Rs 45,000 crore and Rs 50,000 crore. This is higher than Rs 35,000 crore that the government had budgeted.
© 2026 Rediff.com - Investor Information - Advertise with us - Disclaimer - Privacy Policy - Sitemap - Feedback - About us - Terms of use - Grievances