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."
The seven states are Bihar, Jharkhand, Maharashtra, Punjab, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal.
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.
With talks underway between the central government and Zydus Cadila over the pricing of the COVID-19 vaccine ZyCov-D, the pharma company is learnt to have proposed a price of Rs 1,900 for its three-dose jab that can be given to those above 12 years of age.
Dr Reddy's Laboratories Ltd expects the locally manufactured Russia's COVID-19 vaccine Sputnik V to be available from September-October period, a senior official of the city-based drug maker said.
The Drugs Controller General of India has approved the manufacture of this Sars-CoV-2 spike protein recombinant nano-particle vaccine for 'examination, test, and analysis', reports Sohini Das.
The Centre told the apex court that it has fast tracked the emergency approvals for foreign produced COVID-19 vaccines that have been granted approval in other countries
Covishield comprises over 90 pc of 12.76 cr COVID vaccines administered so far
Biological E has received approval for conducting phase II/III human clinical trial of COVID-19 vaccine candidate Corbevax on children above five years and adolescents, the Department of Biotechnology (DBT) said on Friday.
The BJP said it is legal with adequate safeguards and in the interest of national security..
In the ensemble trial, Johnson & Johnson's vaccine was 85 per cent effective against severe/critical disease and demonstrated protection against hospitalisation and death. The vaccine was consistently effective across all regions studied globally, including in South Africa and Brazil, where there was a high prevalence of rapidly emerging Beta and Zeta variants during the study period.
Of the 23.9 million vaccinators who provide vaccination under the universal immunisation programme, 15.4 million will be used for Covid vaccination.
The expert committee sought more information from Serum Institute regarding the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine.
Bharat Biotech had said last month that it expects approval for its COVID-19 vaccine Covaxin from the World Health Organisation for emergency use listing during July-September.
'No approval was given to Sputnik V on Thursday. Some queries have been asked on safety, efficacy, and logistics, which the firm will have answers to at the next meeting'
India achieved this coverage in 130 days as against the USA's feat in 124 days.
Domestic pharma major Panacea Biotec in collaboration with Russian sovereign wealth fund Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) has begun the production of 'Sputnik V' COVID-19 vaccine in India, according to a joint statement issued.
The panel also recommended giving approval to Bharat Biotech for carrying out a study on interchangeability of its Covaxin and the under-trial adenoviral intranasal vaccine candidate BBV154, but asked the Hyderabad-based firm to remove the word "interchangeability" from the study title and submit a revised protocol for approval.
rediffGURU Jinal Mehta answers readers' financial planning and health insurance queries
Apple grew at a strong double-digit rate in India, hitting a new March quarter revenue record in an "incredibly exciting market", even though the tech titan's overall quarterly revenue declined 4 per cent. Apple's India showing earned praises from CEO Tim Cook who described the market here as a "major focus" and said Apple is working on the entire ecosystem from developer to the market to operations. The top honcho said he is "very pleased" with the growth numbers.
The health ministry on Saturday recommended the use of antiviral drug remdesivir in moderate stage of COVID-19 while backtracking from its earlier stance on hydroxychloroquine, saying the anti-malarial drug should be used in the early course of the disease and not on critically ill patients.
The Serum Institute of India (SII) had put in an application to the Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) in October for grant of market authorisation of Covovax for restricted use in emergency situations.
"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.
'SII has started stockpiling the vaccine and now has roughly 40 million doses ready. It is using some of the capacities it had for under development products for the COVID-19 vaccine and by January we will have a capacity to make 100 million doses per month and a stockpile of 200 million doses.'
Modi tweeted that the meeting discussed important issues related to the progress of vaccine development, regulatory approvals and procurement.
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.
If the DCGI grants regular marketing authorisation, Covishied will be the second vaccine in the world to receive such approval.
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".
In a big political win for Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, assembly Speaker Rahul Narwekar on Wednesday held that the Shiv Sena faction led by him was the "real political party" when rival groups emerged in June 2022, and did not disqualify any MLA from the two camps, a verdict that adds another chapter in the Sena legacy war.
Stressing that the Covid virus may continue to transmit for a "very long time", senior WHO official Poonam Khetrapal Singh says the level of immunity in a community, through vaccination and previous infection, will determine whether it will become endemic in the long run.
'Ideally, the efficacy data of all the trials should be there in the public domain, and as soon as possible.' 'It is difficult to understand the reason behind the authorisation.'
The Bill allows stopping of transmission and intercepting messages in case of public emergency, in the interest of the public, to prevent incitement for committing offence.
UAE Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum received a dose of the Covid-19 vaccine on Tuesday. Sheikh Mohammed shared a picture on Twitter of him getting vaccinated by a medical staffer.
Giving the background on the decision to export vaccines, SII said, "In January 2021, we had a large stockpile of vaccine doses. Our vaccination drive had started successfully and the number of daily cases being recorded were at an all-time low."
The US vice-president-elect received a dose of the Moderna vaccine from clinical nurse Patricia Cummings at United Medical Center, which is located in Southeast Washington, DC.
The company has developed detailed logistical plans and tools to support effective vaccine transport, storage, and temperature monitoring. Sohini Das and Ruchika Chitravanshi report.
Senior Congress leader Manish Tewari and Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan sparred on Twitter on Saturday with the Opposition leader raising questions over the emergency use approval given to the indigenously developed vaccine Covaxin and the Bharatiya Janata Party leader hitting back alleging that Tewari was only passionate about spreading rumours.
'Its efficacy is 97.6 per cent.'
He explained, "Children between the age of 12 and 18 years, particularly those in the age group of 15 to 18 years, are very much like adults. Our research within the country also says that almost two-thirds of the deaths below 18 years which occurred due to COVID in India are within this age group. So, this decision was mainly taken to protect the adolescents."
Bharat Biotech on Thursday said it plans to produce additional 200 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine 'Covaxin' at its subsidiary's Ankleshwar (Gujarat) based facility, taking the overall production volume of the vaccine to 1 billion (100 crore) dosages per annum.
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