The Supreme Court of India has directed the central government to establish a no-fault compensation policy for individuals who experience serious adverse events after receiving a COVID-19 vaccine.
The Union Health Ministry refutes claims linking heart-related deaths to Covid vaccines, citing extensive studies by ICMR and AIIMS.
The Mumbai civic body on Tuesday started the city's first drive-in vaccination centre where specially-abled people and senior citizens will not have to stand in a queue and they will be administered the Covid-19 vaccine doses in their own vehicles, officials said.
The Maharashtra government has allowed all Covid-19 vaccination centres in the state to operate round-the-clock if they have adequate staff, to speed up the immunisation drive in the state.
The vaccination sites at present operate from 9 am to 9 pm.
Serum Institute of India (SII) and Bharat Biotech have also stopped producing the Covishield and Covaxin vaccines respectively.
The centre informed that no fresh registration would be required for the precaution dose on the CoWIN.
The decision empowers pregnant women to make an informed choice on taking the Covid vaccination, the ministry said, adding these women can now register on CoWIN or walk-in to the nearest Covid vaccination centre to get themselves inoculated.
Despite these rare occurrences, the pharmaceutical company maintains that extensive clinical trial data and real-world evidence consistently support the vaccine's safety and efficacy.
The national capital had 19,000 doses of Covishield and 2,39,000 doses of Covaxin on Monday morning, according to a bulletin.
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.
The government's Covid vaccination programme is in its final leg with the health ministry deciding against procuring more vaccines as of now and surrendering Rs 4,237 crore, or nearly 85 per cent of the 2022-23 budget allocation for inoculation purposes, to the finance ministry.
India stopped the export of Covid vaccines in mid-April.
Earlier in the day, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal also wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi over vaccine shortage, saying the Centre should share the vaccine formula of the two manufacturers with other capable pharmaceutical companies to scale up production in the country.
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.
The needle-free vaccine will be available at private centres.
'iNCOVACC' is priced at Rs 800 for private markets and at Rs 325 for supplies to the government of India and state governments.
More than 90 lakh Covid-19 vaccine doses are still available with states and Union territories which will receive over 7 lakh additional doses in the next three days, the Union health ministry said on Tuesday.
As per a statement issued by the civic body, the vaccination drive will resume once it receives a fresh stock of vaccines.
Delhi Police have arrested four individuals involved in an interstate racket manufacturing and distributing counterfeit prescription drugs, uncovering an illegal processing unit in Delhi.
'The key purpose of vaccination is to prevent hospitalisation, severe disease, and death.' 'All vaccines work equally, although mild disease cannot be prevented.'
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.
All COVID vaccines do not prevent infection and are primarily disease-modifying, said Dr Balram Bhargava, director general, Indian Council of Medical Research on Thursday.
According to the health ministry, advance appointments for vaccination can be booked through http://cowin.gov.in, or one can visit their nearest vaccination center after 3 pm and get on-site registration done.
"Pregnancy doesn't increase the risk of acquiring SARS-COV-2 infection but appears to worsen the clinical course as compared to non-pregnant women'
Former Union home minister Chidambaram lashed out at the government over the alleged sluggish pace of inoculation against the viral disease and claimed that the country will not achieve 100-per cent first-dose vaccination by December 31.
The states and Union territories were also urged not to store, reserve, conserve or create a buffer stock of the COVID-19 vaccines, the Union health ministry said in a statement, a day after the start of the second phase of India's inoculation drive in which the coverage has been expanded to include everyone above 60 and those over 45 with specified co-morbidities.
With around 2 million Covid vaccine doses likely to get wasted in December, leading hospital chains have now started to give it gratis to citizens. Sohini Das and Ruchika Chitravanshi report.
"Kerala has received 73,38,806 doses of vaccine from Central government. We have provided 74,26,164 doses, even making use of the extra dose available as wastage factor in each vial. Our health workers, especially nurses have been super efficient and deserve our wholehearted appreciation!," Vijayan had tweeted.
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.
A comprehensive study by AIIMS, Delhi, found no evidence linking COVID-19 vaccination to sudden deaths in young adults, emphasizing the safety of the vaccines and highlighting coronary artery disease as a leading cause of sudden death.
Earlier this month, 75 of the 120 vaccination centres across Mumbai, including a jumbo COVID-19 facility in business district BKC, had suspended inoculation due to a shortage of doses.
The next phase of the COVID-19 vaccination drive for people above 60 years and those aged 45 and above with comorbidities will begin from March 1 and registration on the Co-WIN2.0 portal will open at 9 am on Monday.
Nadda said 130 crore people of the country have come forward to take vaccines on the call of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, despite the opposition trying to mislead them and create obstructions.
Union Health Secretary said that priority groups have been decided who are vulnerable to mortality.
According to the advance visibility provided by the Centre to states and Union territories, a total of 5.86 crore Covid vaccine doses will be provided free of cost to them from May 1 to June 15, the Union health ministry said on Wednesday.
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.
More than 6.5 crore vaccine doses have been administered across the country so far to frontline workers, healthcare workers, those above 60 and for people aged above 45 with specified co-co-morbid conditions.
'Registration for the newly eligible category for COVID-19 vaccination opens today at 4 pm on cowin.gov.in and Aarogya Setu app'
However, Cipla was very clear it does not want to get into vaccine manufacturing.
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