Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Wednesday that international travel should be made easier through mutual recognition of vaccine certificates, amid several countries adopting different sets of rules to allow foreigners to enter their territory in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The study also noted that the booster dosage of the company's COVID-19 vaccine Vaxzevria also increased the immune response to Beta, Delta, Alpha and Gamma SARS-CoV-2 variants.
So far the coronavirus, which originated in the Chinese city of Wuhan, has infected more than 54 million people around the world and killed over 1.3 million others.
Of the 4.10 crore to be shared through COVAX, 1.40 crore will go to Latin America and the Caribbean nations and 1.60 crore to Asia.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday called for reforming the World Health Organisation and streamlining its approval process for vaccines and therapeutics, and favoured making flexible the WTO's rules relating to trade-related aspects of intellectual property rights.
We should be relieved that we got the doses but we must also know where they came from and who was and who was not responsible for this achievement, notes Aakar Patel.
As India launches the world's most ambitious and biggest vaccination drive against COVID-19, the country will encounter the formidable challenge of rapidly scaling up distribution of the vaccines to secure immunity for its entire population, two prominent Indian scientists at World Health Organisation have said.
We have applied for marketing authorisation to the EMA through AstraZeneca. We will not sell the vaccine in the EU, said a company source.
Tamil Nadu, Haryana, Punjab, Manipur and Telangana report the most wastage.
Bharat Biotech has completed the Phase 2/3 trials of COVID-19 vaccine, Covaxin for use in children under 18 years of age and is expected to submit the data by next week to the Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI), Chairman and Managing Director of Bharat Biotech International Ltd, Krishna Ella said
According to sources close to ANI, "Bharat Biotech has informed Union health ministry that it will rectify the issues pointed out by WHO in 15 to 20 days." "World Health Organisation (WHO)'s suspension is not related to safety or efficacy issues but limited only to supply for United Nations agencies."
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.
In its weekly report on the pandemic, the World Health Organisation said on Tuesday that the incidence of COVID-19 has increased globally, initially driven predominantly by transmission of the Delta variant, particularly in the European region.
The United States has so far allocated only 7.5 million doses of Covid vaccines to India, which is not enough, a top Indian-American Congressman said while urging the Biden Administration to do more.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in his address at the 76th session of the United Nations General Assembly on Saturday, invited the global manufacturers of vaccines to come and make vaccines in India, stressing that the country's "faith is to serve people".
Though there is no official word, the sources said the government is not ready to give in to the indemnity demands of the US drug manufacturers against liabilities in case of adverse effects.
The focus of the company would be to develop its capability across segments of injectables, vaccines, biosimilars, inhalation and APIs to drive growth.
The Quad partnership is on track to produce at least a billion vaccine doses in India by 2022, US President Joe Biden said on Wednesday, asserting that nothing is more urgent than working together to defeat COVID-19 so the world is much better prepared for future pandemics.
There were apprehensions in the SII about rival Bharat Biotech's 'indigenous' tag, opening up shortcuts for it. One senior person, who was very familiar with the sector, told me, 'The message has gone out from the very top. Somani (V G Somani -- drug controller general of India) has told me "Bharat ka karna hai".' A fascinating excerpt from Abantika Ghosh's Billions Under Lockdown: The Inside Story Of India's Fight Against COVID-19.
As the global debate on booster shots gathers momentum, several scientists in New Delhi said the priority must be to ensure that more people are inoculated with at least their first jab.
Covaxin was found to have 78 per cent efficacy against COVID-19 of any severity, 14 or more days after the second dose, and is extremely suitable for low- and middle-income countries due to easy storage requirements, said the global health body.
'We are hoping by March, the government allows us to export and give it to the private market.'
Biden expressed the support of the US to India in a telephonic conversation with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, during which the two leaders discussed the pandemic situation in their countries, including India's ongoing efforts to contain a second wave of COVID-19 through expedited vaccination efforts, and ensuring supply of critical medicines, therapeutics and medical equipment.
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.
He voiced concern that confusion, complacency and inconsistency in public health measures and their application are driving transmission and costing lives. Cautioning that the disease is not flu, he said young, healthy people have died from the coronavirus.
The new vaccine candidate, DIOS-CoVax2, uses banks of genetic sequences of all known coronaviruses, including those from bats, believed to be the natural hosts of many relatives of human coronaviruses.
India's growth projection released by the latest World Economic Outlook remains unchanged from its previous WEO (World Economic Outlook) update of July this summer but is a three-percentage point in 2021 and 1.6 percentage point drop from its April projections. According to the latest WEO update, released ahead of the annual meeting of the IMF and the World Bank, the world is expected to grow at 5.9 per cent in 2021 and 4.9 per cent in 2022.
India is not keen to 'bow down' to demands related to indemnity against legal liabilities in case any vaccine recipient develops severe adverse reactions post inoculation.
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.
Both manufacturers have sought funds in excess of Rs 150 crore under the department of biotechnology's Mission Covid Suraksha scheme. Announced last November, the scheme has an outlay of Rs 900 crore to help develop Covid vaccines, from the clinical development stage to setting up production sites.
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.
The Joe Biden administration has come under intense pressure from various quarters, including the powerful US Chambers of Commerce, lawmakers and eminent Indian-Americans, to ship AstraZeneca and other Covid-19 vaccines along with several life-saving medical supplies to India, which is witnessing a deadly surge in coronavirus cases.
Asserting that India is on track to vaccinate its entire adult population by December, top officials on Monday said a blueprint is in place to ensure a total supply of 187.2 crore doses by the year-end that would be enough for the country's 94 crore 18-plus population.
The latest variant is the most heavily mutated version discovered so far.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday described India and America as "natural partners" as he held the first in-person meeting with Vice President Kamala Harris at the White House during which they decided to further cement the Indo-US strategic partnership and discussed global issues of common interest, including threats to democracy and the Indo-Pacific.
In a tweet, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said India is deeply honoured to be a 'long-trusted' partner in meeting the healthcare needs of the global community and that supplies of the vaccines to several countries will commence on Wednesday, and more will follow in the days ahead.
Biden on Friday opened the first Quad Leaders' Summit held virtually and attended by Prime Minister Modi, Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison and Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga.
As of July 13, at least 111 countries, territories and areas have reported detection of the Delta variant, and this is expected to continue to increase, becoming the dominant variant globally in the coming months.
The endemic stage is when a population learns to live with a virus.
The procurement and distribution will be centralised though the government is yet to take a call on the initial number of doses that will be procured.
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