Addressing an online question and answer session, WHO's chief scientist Soumya Swaminathan said there would be at least one effective vaccine by 2021 but it would be available 'only in limited quantities'. "Most people agree, it's starting with healthcare workers, and frontline workers, but even there, you need to define which of them are at highest risk, and then the elderly, and so on," Swaminathan said on prioritising who gets the vaccine first.
The vaccination can be held at workplaces that have around 100 eligible and willing beneficiaries.
The production of Covaxin will increase from the current 10 million doses per month to 60 million-70 million by July-August.
More than 1.82 crore COVID-19 vaccine doses are available with states and union territories, and over 4 lakh will be received by them within the next three days, the Union health ministry said.
The ICMR-National Institute of Virology has been regularly undertaking studies to understand the protective efficacy of COVID-19 vaccines against emerging variants.
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Modi is also likely to launch the Co-WIN (COVID Vaccine Intelligence Network) App, a digital platform created for real-time monitoring of COVID-19 vaccine delivery and distribution.
PM Prime Minister Narendra Modi has announced that all people will be provided free of cost vaccines.
With final preparations underway and the vaccine set to arrive in the national capital in the next couple of days, Rohit Datta, who was the first person to be diagnosed with coronavirus infection on March 1, said "it feels surreal".
Representatives from seven vaccine makers -- Serum Institute of India, Bharat Biotech, Dr Reddy's Laboratories, Zydus Cadila, Biological E, Gennova Biopharma and Panacea Biotech -- will be participating in the meeting.
Poonawalla, during an interaction with Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik through a video conference, expressed optimism that the COVID-19 vaccine could be ready by October-November this year and the next phase of the trial can start in mid-August in India. According to a press note released by the CMO, Poonawalla has informed that the Oxford University vaccine has shown promising results in the first phase trial.
The government Thursday announced that differently-abled people and those with restricted mobility will be given COVID vaccine at home.
Phase-I clinical trials have revealed "excellent safety" of the two candidate vaccines indigenously developed by Bharat Biotech in collaboration with Indian Council of Medical Research and Cadila Healthcare Ltd and their immunogenicity testing is now in progress, minister of state for health Ashwini Choubey informed the Rajya Sabha on Tuesday.
The "COVID Vaccination Amrit Mahotsav" to provide free precaution doses of the vaccines to everyone aged 18 years and above at government vaccination centres commenced on Friday.
At 4.35 pm, a tweet from the verified Twitter handle of the Aarogya Setu mobile application said the CoWIN portal is working and that there was a minor glitch at 4 pm, which was fixed.
This is the first time that the city civic authority has suspended the inoculation drive this month due to shortage of vaccines.
Many inoculation centres in Maharashtra are being shut due to the shortage of coronavirus vaccine, Health Minister Rajesh Tope said on Wednesday, adding the state now has 14 lakh doses which would last just three days.
The national COVID-19 recovery rate was recorded at 98.54 per cent, the health ministry said.
According to respective company sources, Biological E is holding 200 million doses of its COVID-19 vaccine Corbevax while Bharat Biotech is sitting on a stockpile of 50 million doses of Covaxin.
The state governments and UT administrations should strictly enforce the test-track-treat protocol in all parts of the country, ensure observance of COVID-19-appropriate behaviour by everyone and, scale up the vaccination drive to cover all the target groups, the guidelines said.
This will boost availability of these items as well as make them cheaper, it said, adding that Modi also directed the revenue department to ensure seamless and quick custom clearance of such equipment.
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.
As the COVID-19 vaccination of children falling into the age bracket of 15 to 18 years is scheduled to begin from January 3, the Kerala health department has prepared an action plan for inoculation of all eligible beneficiaries.
India achieved a major milestone in its vaccination programme against COVID-19 as the cumulative vaccine doses administered in the country surpassed the 200-crore mark on Sunday.
The first phase of the programme will kick off with vaccinations in Hyderabad on Monday and in Visakhapatnam on Tuesday (May 18) at Apollo facilities.
Several vaccination centres across Mumbai, including a jumbo COVID-19 facility in business district BKC, suspended inoculation on Friday morning due to a shortage of doses, BMC sources said.
According to health ministry officials, over 92 per cent of the adult population have received at least one dose while over 68 per cent have been fully vaccinated.
India's cumulative COVID-19 vaccination coverage was recorded at over 28.36 crore since January 16, according to the data from the Co-WIN portal.
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.
The CSIR DG said the transmissibility of the new strain N501Y is a "bit higher" but this does not mean it is more lethal and more people are going to die due to it.
Starting July 1, private hospitals in the country will no longer be allowed to directly procure COVID-19 vaccines from manufacturers and have to place orders on the Centre's CoWIN portal.
The death toll climbed to 5,28,337 with 35 fatalities which includes 21 deaths reconciled by Kerala.
Tamil Nadu, Haryana, Punjab, Manipur and Telangana report the most wastage.
The Bombay high court on Saturday directed the central government to file an affidavit detailing the manner and methods of allocating COVID-19 vaccines to states.
Sputnik V is already approved in India and Sinovac is unlikely to come in as it does not meet the criteria.
The death toll climbed to 5,27,037 with 41 fatalities which includes 12 deaths reconciled by Kerala, the data updated at 8 am stated.
India's total number of active COVID-19 cases has reached 1,64,511, which comprises 1.48 per cent of the country's total infections, the Union health ministry said on Sunday highlighting six states that have shown a surge in new cases in a span of 24 hours.
Rahul's remarks come against the backdrop when India reported more than 1.52 lakh new COVID-19 cases on Sunday. This is the fifth consecutive day when more than one lakh cases have been reported in the country.
Pulse oximeters, hand sanitisers, temperature check equipment and ambulances too will attract lower 5 per cent tax.
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