Serum Institute of India plans to make 300 million doses of AZD1222 by December, and will begin phase-2 trials soon. It has also tied up with Novavax for development and commercialisation of its candidate.
The Covishield maker's forte throughout the past half a century has been a combination of affordable vaccines and high volumes. Its tetanus, diphtheria and measles vaccines are known throughout the world, reports Sohini Das.
'We're clear Covishield is not a problem. The UK is open to travel and we're already seeing a lot of people going from India to the UK, be it tourists, business people or students,' Alex Ellis, British high commissioner to India, said.
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.
Apart from the 1.1 crore doses of Covishield being procured from the Serum Institute of India, 55 lakh doses of indigenously developed Covaxin were being obtained from Bharat Biotech, Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan said at a press conference.
The nature of the adverse reaction and when the development took place were not initially clear, although the participant is expected to recover, said an individual familiar with the matter.
A massive pan-India inoculation drive against COVID-19 was set in process on Tuesday with more than 56 lakh doses of the Covishield vaccine flown to 13 cities across India from Pune and taken to designated national and state-level stores amid tight security.
The first dry run of the vaccination drive took place across 125 districts covering all States/UTs on January 2. The dry run was also conducted to familiarise the state, district, block, and hospital-level officers on all aspects of the COVID-19 rollout.
'The Union government has discouraged state and local governments from imposing restrictions on their own.' 'That advice should be withdrawn,' asserts Mihir S Sharma.
'That secularism in India is at risk is alarming for someone like me. I'm born secular,' Anjolie Ela Menon, the well-known painter, tells Pavan Lall.
Their discoveries pave the way for promising new strategies to fight anemia, cancer and several other diseases.
Amidst acute poverty across South Asia, the five states of Delhi, Kerala, Goa, Punjab and Himachal Pradesh have the least number of poor people in India, according to a new measure of global poverty developed at the University of Oxford for the UNDP.
Millions of people across the country stayed indoors on March 22, 2020 in an unprecedented and overwhelming response to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's appeal for the nationwide curfew. People used to come out briefly at 5 pm to show their gratitude to healthcare and other essential service providers with sounds of bells, conches and claps.
Tony Lewis, the former university lecturer better known for one of the most complex rules of cricket -- the Duckworth-Lewis-Stern method which is used in rain-affected matches, died at the age of 78.
The government has said elite sport in England cannot return until at least June 1 and will have to take place without spectators present.
The AVT Champions Tour holds the unique distinction of being the only golf tour catering to 50-year-old or above senior golfers in India.
COVAX, 'the global COVID vaccine equity scheme', has so far delivered 65 million doses to 124 countries and economies but it is dependent on countries and manufacturers honouring their commitments.
During the webinar, 'COVID-19: Vaccination and Potential Return to Normalcy - If and When', Dr Hotez, an internationally-recognised physician-scientist in neglected tropical diseases and vaccine development, said that the COVID-19 vaccine rollout is "India's gift' to the world in combating the virus.
Health practitioners who have been vaccinated against coronavirus or have administered the shots to others took part, sharing their first-hand experiences.
The Nobel Assembly on Tuesday said in a tweet, 'The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences has decided to award the 2020 Nobel Prize in Physics with one half to Roger Penrose and the other half jointly to Reinhard Genzel and Andrea Ghez.'
The British Potato Council says the phrase makes the vegetable seem unhealthy. It wants the expression stripped from the dictionary and replaced in everyday speech with the term "couch slouch."\n\n
Lumiere, the United Kingdom's largest light festival, was held in London for the first time this year. The event showcases different light installations, videos and interactive sculptures from artists all over the world.
Three students from United States universities, including Indian girl Tarushi Jain, were among 20 hostages hacked to death by suspected Islamic State militants in a terror attack at a restaurant in Bangladesh capital's high-security diplomatic zone.
Laws governing compensation in case of adverse side effects for Covaxin and Covishield may differ in accordance with the kind of approvals given, say legal experts.
Each vaccination session will cater to a maximum of 100 beneficiaries and the Union Health Ministry has advised states not to organise 'unreasonable numbers of vaccination per site per day'.
Five vaccine candidates are in advanced stages of development in India, out of which four are in Phase II/III and one is in Phase-I/II trials.
Former Sri Lankan captain Arjuna Ranatunga has savaged Indian Premier League (IPL) commissioner Lalit Modi, blaming him personally for India's disappointing World Twenty20 campaign earlier this year.
The visitors' display was enough to earn them applause from their fans at the end.
'Biden's promise of returning to 'normalcy' after Trump appears to mean that the same old politicians, who are responsible for the 'endless wars' in Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria, are being brought out of the woodwork after four years,' notes Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
Johnson will instead speak to Prime Minister Narendra Modi later this month to launch their plans for the future UK-India partnership, with their physical meeting expected later in the year.
The Centre has also contacted five domestic and three multinational vaccine makers to understand how soon a candidate vaccine against Covid-19 will be ready.
If the vaccine is safe and shows a promising immune response in humans, then larger trials would be planned for later in the year.
At $37 per dose, the Pfizer vaccine is much more expensive compared to $3 per dose for the Covishield.
The NTAGI has also stated that those having laboratory test proven SARS-CoV-2 illness should defer COVID-19 vaccination for six months after recovery, the sources said.
Ever since the credit crunch surfaced in late 2007, there has been a dramatic fall in the prices of financial assets amounting to a total wealth erosion of $28 trillion across the world, economic forecasting consultancy Oxford Economics has said.
Those who have recovered from COVID-19 respond faster to the Covishield vaccine and reach high antibody levels, says a study, leading to hopes that they may not need a second dose and therefore help widen India's corona immunisation cover.
The pair of running shoes worn by Roger Bannister when the Briton ran the first sub-four minute mile in 1954 were sold by auctioneers Christie's on Thursday for 266,500 pounds ($412,062.30).
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.
Messages of congratulations, doctors posing with a victory sign for the media with their infectious smiles -- visible even under the cover of mask -- and the many 'just got jabbed' selfie by the health workers, it was a rare and happy day at the BLK hospital, which has witnessed many dreary days in the past due to the ongoing pandemic.
