'We are not dependent only on the two vaccines as the country is working on seven more indigenous vaccines'
'The worst is possibly over because too many of us may already be infected.'
"Relevant countries should abandon the obsolete Cold War mentality and narrow-minded geopolitical rivalry concept and view correctly and respect people's aspiration in the region and do more things conducive to regional solidarity and cooperation," Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said.
In the trial, the vaccine will be given by the intramuscular route in two doses on day 0 and day 28.
The modalities of COVID-19 vaccine delivery, distribution and administration were discussed during the meeting.
Dr V K Paul, Member (Health) Niti Aayog, who also chairs the national expert group on COVID-19 vaccine administration, said the government attaches 'great importance to this offer of partnership from a very special friend to this nation'.
The official expressed hope on the success of the five vaccines that are under different phases of trial in the country.
The novel mRNA vaccine candidate, HGCO19, is supported with seed grant under the Ind-CEPI mission of the Department of Biotechnology. The mRNA vaccines do not use the conventional model to produce immune response. Instead, they carry molecular instructions to make the protein in the body through a synthetic RNA of the virus.
Shreyas Iyer will start for the second phase if the IPL training after completion of all the quarantine protocols.
'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.'
Niclosamide, a drug on the World Health Organisation's list of essential medicines, has been used to treat tapeworm infestation for more than 50 years. The oral antiviral drug was also used to treat patients during the SARS outbreak of 2003-04.
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.
Pfizer and BioNTech SE on Monday said trial results of COVID-19 vaccine showed that it is safe and produced robust neutralising antibody response in children aged five to 11 years, and they plan to seek regulatory approvals as soon as possible.
India remains a young nation, but it will not get younger in future. India has not managed to noticeably improve education. Nor has it managed to create employment opportunities, observes Devangshu Datta.
'The prioritisation of groups for COVID-19 vaccine shall be based on two key considerations -- occupational hazard and risk of exposure to infection, and the risk of developing severe disease and increased mortality'
Human presents an ugly truth -- that some people need to die a painful death in order to facilitate the process of finding a cure for deadly diseases, observes Utkarsh Mishra.
'Once DCGI will give us the permission to restart the trials in India, we will resume the trials,' Serum Institute of India (SII) said in a statement.
Star allrounder Hardik Pandya was kept out of the IPL game against Chennai Super Kings as a precautionary measure as he had a little niggle, said Mumbai Indians head coach Mahela Jayawardene.
Security breach came days after the firm got approval to conduct trials for Covid-19 vaccine candidate Sputnik V.
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.
'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'
There are 12 sites across India, including private and public hospitals, conducting Phase 1 and 2 human clinical trials for Bharat Biotech's Covaxin. Based on an earlier letter by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) to the 12 sites, volunteer recruitments for the clinical trials were to begin by July 7. At least three sites are yet to kick-start the process.
The 21-year-old Gill, one of the batting mainstays of the new IPL franchise, in an exclusive interview to PTI, spoke on various subjects, including his strike-rate in T20 cricket, preferred batting position, World T20 and how he is a firm believer in "pouncing on second chances".
'The Indian Academy of Sciences, strongly believes that any hasty solution that may compromise rigorous scientific processes and standards will likely have long-term adverse impacts of unforeseen magnitude on citizens of India'
The same team of scientists had last year dismissed the lab leak idea as a conspiracy theory in a report also published in The Lancet.
Such attempts had risen sharply right before pandemic and early part of pandemic by 121 per cent.
The decision was taken during a meeting chaired by Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray, who said, the forest would be the first example of a "huge jungle" being conserved at the centre of a megapolis, an official statement said.
The trial is to be conducted on 525 healthy volunteers. In the trial, the vaccine will be given by intramuscular route in two doses at day 0 and day 28.
The approval by the Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) was given on the basis of recommendations submitted by a COVID-19 subject expert committee (SEC) of the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO).
Accusing the Centre of setting a new trend of playing "dirty politics" for votes through the budget, an editorial in Sena mouthpiece 'Saamana' said the allocation of more funds to poll-bound states is a kind of "bribery".
Nobel laureate Peter Doherty says his 'big worry' is there could be refusals for other vaccines if doubts over its safety turn out to be true.
So far, no other vaccine has been approved globally for children below 12 years. Sohini Das reports.
Earlier this week, AstraZeneca said it had paused the trials because of 'an unexplained illness' in a participant in the study.
Providence will sell up to 30 mn doses of its mRNA vaccine to Biological E. It would also provide the necessary technology transfer to make the vaccine in India, with a minimum production capacity of 600 mn doses in 2022 and targets capacity of 1 bn doses, reports Sohini Das.
According to sources, around 10 crore doses of the Sputnik V vaccine is likely to be imported for emergency use in the country in the next six to seven months.
The aim of the mission is to accelerate the development of at least six vaccine candidates and ensure that they are licenced and introduced in market for emergency use at the earliest.
Once the UK drug regulator gives its approval to the Oxford vaccine, the expert committee on COVID-19 at the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO) will hold its meeting and thoroughly review the safety and immunogenicity data from the clinical evaluations conducted abroad and in India before granting any emergency authorisation for the vaccine here, official sources said.
Health Minister Harsh Vardhan said the COVID-19 vaccine will be available in the next few months and it is estimated that by July-August 400-500 million doses will be made available for 25-30 crore people.
The NIH said results of two studies of blood serum from people who had received Covaxin suggest that the vaccine generates antibodies that effectively neutralise the B.1.1.7 (Alpha) and B.1.617 (Delta) variants of SARS-CoV-2, first identified in the United Kingdom and India, respectively.
'Pfizer India has submitted an application on December 4 to the DCGI seeking emergency use authorization for its COVID-19 vaccine in India'
