"The Indian Medical Association has requested all its 3.5 lakh members in 1,800 local branches to voluntarily come out to get vaccinated first to show the world that these vaccines are safe and efficacious," it said.
Asked if the government has decided to administer the COVID-19 vaccine to the entire population free of cost on priority basis and if so, the target fixed to administer the doses, the health minister said according to Revised Guidelines for Implementation of National COVID Vaccination Program, which came into effect from June 21, all citizens aged 18 years and above, irrespective of their income status, are entitled to free vaccination at all government vaccination centres.
Modi urged the country to show patience during the vaccination drive as it had shown till now in fighting the pandemic.
The COVID-19 active caseload remained below 4 lakh for the second consecutive day.
'Pfizer India has submitted an application on December 4 to the DCGI seeking emergency use authorization for its COVID-19 vaccine in India'
India has purchased 500 million doses of the Oxford University-AstraZeneca vaccine candidate, one billion from the United States company Novavax and 100 million doses of the Sputnik V candidate from Russia's Gamaleya Research Institute, according to the US-based Duke University Global Health Innovation Center.
Kejriwal said COVID-19 vaccines should have one price and appealed to the Centre to bring down the price.
The Serum Institute of India has informed the Centre that it will be able to supply around 22 crore doses of Covishield in October as the Union government has announced resuming export of surplus Covid vaccines in the coming fourth quarter under the 'Vaccine Maitri' programme, official sources said.
Serum Institute of India, the world's largest vaccine manufacturer, has a licence to produce the shot and has already manufactured close to 50 million doses.
Dr V K Paul, Member (Health) Niti Aayog, who also chairs the national expert group on COVID-19 vaccine administration, said the government attaches 'great importance to this offer of partnership from a very special friend to this nation'.
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.
Government institutions and pharma industry are examining if a 'cocktail' approach to making a multi-variant Covid-19 vaccine works against multiple strains of the ever-mutating virus, reports Sohini Das.
In phase I, the vaccine would be tested on 375 volunteers and the maximum of 100 of them would be from AIIMS.
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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.
The second dose of anti-coronavirus vaccine will be administered to healthcare workers from February 13, the Centre said on Thursday, highlighting that 45 per cent of them have been inoculated so far.
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.
'I can say with confidence that any future SARS-CoV-2 vaccine, developed anywhere in the world, would have to be manufactured in India, if it is to be affordable and of high quality.'
An important focus of the dry run will be on management of any possible adverse events following immunisation.
While the vaccine could be available at $3-6 (Rs 225 to Rs 550) per dose, herd immunity might be two years away due to implementation challenges, it said, adding the experience in large scale adult vaccination programmes is thin.
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.
"The concrete actions are a stern indication that Government of India is making all out efforts to increase vaccine production in the country as well as attracting foreign vaccine manufacturers to supply the required vaccine doses for national Covid vaccination programme," the ministry in a statement.
According to the sources, there are limited prospects of J&J exporting its vaccine from the US to other countries in the near future and the "entire production" at the BE facilities in India, beginning July/August, will be handed over to the pharma giant under a contract between the companies.
The modalities of COVID-19 vaccine delivery, distribution and administration were discussed during the meeting.
The official expressed hope on the success of the five vaccines that are under different phases of trial in the country.
Vaccinating all citizens above the age of 18 years against COVID-19 will cost Rs 67,193 crore, of which states together will incur Rs 46,323 crore, India Ratings and Research (Ind-Ra) said on Thursday. As the second wave of COVID-19 sweeps the country with alarming speed and severity, the government has announced a liberalised and accelerated Phase 3 strategy of COVID-19 vaccination. Under this scheme, all persons above 18 years of age will be eligible to get COVID-19 vaccine doses from May 1.
The Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation has granted restricted emergency use authorisation to two new vaccines and a drug for COVID-19, taking the number of preventives and treatments available in India to 12.
'Someone may have diabetes, but at what level the disease qualifies as a comorbid condition is something a doctor will decide upon and certify accordingly.'
'This government did not have any plan for safety stocks of essential medicines.'
In an address to the nation amid increasing Covid cases through the Omicron variant of the virus, he said the precaution dose will also be available for citizens above 60 years of age and with comorbidities on the advice of their doctor from January 10 next year as well.
The Drugs Control General of India has permitted emergency use of Covid vaccine Sputnik V with certain conditions, clearing the way for a third vaccine in addition to Covishield and Covaxin. Besides, the government on Tuesday also fast-tracked emergency approval for other jabs. Here is what the vaccines are all about:
The Centre stressed that the next three weeks will be critical for the country reeling from the worst health crisis as it announced a series of measures to shore up medical infrastructure and supplies and scale up vaccination.
Vardhan noted that COVID-19 infection among those vaccinated would be very mild and not progress to an advanced stage.
The remarks come amid suspected cases of COVID-19 reinfection being reported from abroad and from Indian states like Telangana, Karnataka, Gujarat, Punjab and Maharashtra.
Results of an interim study recently published in The Lancet showed that two doses of Covaxin, also known as BBV152, had 77.8 per cent efficacy against symptomatic disease and present no serious safety concerns.
'Just put a patch on your arm and the vaccine can be absorbed by the body.'
The Serum Institute of India, the largest vaccine maker in the world, has been chosen by Oxford and its partner AstraZeneca to manufacture the vaccine once it is ready. Trials results for the first two phases were published earlier this month.
'At the stage where we are in today in the country, by the time mass vaccination becomes available, it would be around the middle of next year.' 'Most of those people, who got infected this year, will be next year back to level zero -- once again susceptible.'
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.
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.
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