The Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation has granted restricted emergency use authorisation to two new vaccines and a drug for COVID-19, taking the number of preventives and treatments available in India to 12.
Registering a steady increase for the 17th day in row, the active cases have increased to 4,52,647 comprising 3.80 per cent of the total infections, while the recovery rate has further dropped to 94.85 per cent, the data stated.
The western world had largely considered India to be a production hub, and also, a good potential geography for clinical trials, and a big market. But in Covid-19 research, Indian companies and government researchers are also researching new drug candidates and potential vaccines, says Prosenjit Datta.
As per RDIF, Sputnik V has a number of key advantages, including that there are no strong allergies caused by Sputnik V.
The Netherlands has emerged as India's fifth-largest export destination in 2021-22 (FY22), jumping from its 10th position a year ago. Exports to the fifth-largest economy in the European Union (EU) bolted 94 per cent to $12.5 billion in the financial year ended March 31. In FY22, the Netherlands surpassed Hong Kong, Singapore, the UK, Germany, and Nepal to become India's largest export destination in the EU. Germany, which was earlier India's top European export destination (eighth position), has now dropped two ranks to 10th place.
'Pfizer India has submitted an application on December 4 to the DCGI seeking emergency use authorization for its COVID-19 vaccine in India'
India has received over USD 20 billion in FDI amid the coronavirus pandemic, Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla said on Tuesday, showcasing the country as one of the most attractive destinations for investment globally.
This means there are now four promising vaccines on the horizon after Pfizer-BioNTech, Sputnik and Moderna already reporting good preliminary data from Phase 3 trials.
This means fully vaccinated Indian passengers will no longer be subjected to a compulsory 10-day hotel quarantine on their arrival in Britain.
Thanking all, including doctors, nurses, healthcare staff, security personnel and journalists, who have been at the frontline in the fight against the pandemic, the minister said they ensured India reaches the stage when vaccine gets delivered to the people.
A 40-year-old man who was a volunteer in the third phase of the ''Covidshield'' vaccine trial in Chennai has alleged serious side effects, including a virtual neurological breakdown and impairment of cognitive functions.
The number of people who have recuperated from the disease surged to 1,01,62,738 pushing the national COVID-19 recovery rate to 96.53 per cent.
Anybody over 50 years of age or with co-morbidities can get a date, place and time of choice for getting the vaccine shots.
Tamil Nadu, Haryana, Punjab, Manipur and Telangana report the most wastage.
An expert panel of India's central drug authority on Wednesday recommended granting regular market approval to COVID vaccines Covishield and Covaxin for use in adult population subject to certain conditions, official sources said.
The UK's National Health Service was already lining up thousands of medics and volunteers to be ready to deliver jabs up and down the country.
Railway employees including station masters, engine drivers, ticket checkers, etc too have been selected for vaccination and their list is being compiled for the exercise.
The COVID-19 active caseload remained below two lakh for the 14th consecutive day.
Britain has finalised 1 billion pounds worth of new trade and investment with India, creating over 6,500 jobs in the UK, to be signed off at a virtual summit between Prime Minister Boris Johnson and his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi on Tuesday. The investments confirmed by Downing Street on Monday evening form part of an Enhanced Trade Partnership (ETP), which will set the ambition to double the value of UK-India trade by 2030 and declare a shared intent to begin work towards a comprehensive Free Trade Agreement (FTA). "Like every aspect of the UK-India relationship, the economic links between our countries make our people stronger and safer," Johnson said.
But no extra risk after second dose, shows study led and funded by drug maker, reports Sohini Das.
The official expressed hope on the success of the five vaccines that are under different phases of trial in the country.
Two men, aged 32 and 48, were given the first shot of the 'Covishield' vaccine, being manufactured by Pune-based Serum Institute of India, at Bharti Vidyapeeth's Medical College and Hospital on Wednesday. The dose will be repeated after one month, an official said.
There was the mistaken belief that there was no risk of a second wave anytime soon.
David Quarrey, 55, a 10 Downing Street aide, had tested negative in his pre-travel test but tested positive a week after his return when the National Health Service flagged that someone on his flight had been traced as COVID-positive, The Sunday Times reports.
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 Centre on April 19 had announced a ''liberalised'' policy, making all above 18 years of age eligible to get vaccinated from May 1. It has also allowed state governments and private hospitals to purchase vaccines from manufacturers.
Union Minister Nitin Gadkari on Tuesday said that more pharma companies should be allowed to manufacture the COVID-19 vaccine in the country during the pandemic to scale up production.
SII said it will address the limited capacity by scaling up the vaccine production over the next two months.
The Union health ministry on Sunday clarified that already booked online appointments for second dose of Covishield vaccine will remain valid and the same will not be cancelled on Co-WIN platform.
United States Pharma giant Pfizer is in the final stages of an agreement with India to supply anti-COVID-19 vaccines, Chief Executive Officer Dr Albert Bourla said on Tuesday, observing that the domestically manufactured vaccines would be the backbone of vaccinating the Indian people.
India is engaged with American entities for procurement of COVID-19 vaccines from the United States and their possible manufacturing in the country subsequently, the Ministry of External Affairs said on Thursday.
Responding to another question, Choubey said that the phase-I of 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 now their immunogenicity testing is in progress. Their phase II clinical trials are ongoing.
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.
A technical advisory group of the World Health Organisation was on Tuesday reviewing data on Covaxin for the emergency use listing of India's indigenously-made vaccine and it could pronounce its decision within the next 24 hours or so, a spokesperson said.
Adar Poonawalla said he was hopeful that Covovax, the Novavax vaccine made by SII, will be launched around October this year for adults and for children by the first quarter of next year, depending on DCGI approvals.
'The residents are a bit apprehensive about the lack of complete trial in case of Covaxin and might not participate in huge numbers thus defeating the purpose of vaccination. We request you to vaccinate us with Covishield which has completed all stages of trial before its roll-out'
The vaccine would be first made available to the vulnerable population and eventually, it would be available in the private market for all.
Amid reports of the ongoing coal shortage in the country, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman stressed that there is no shortage and termed these as "absolutely baseless", saying India is a power surplus country. Sitharaman said that Power Minister R K Singh went on record just two days ago when he said absolutely baseless information is floating around that there is probably shortage of coal, shortage of other inventories which will lead to a sudden gap in the supply demand situation in the energy consumption. "Absolute baseless! There is no shortage of anything. In fact, if I recall the minister's statement, every power producing installation has the next four days' stock absolutely available within their own premises and the supply chain has not broken at all," Sitharaman said at Harvard Kennedy School on Tuesday.
Facing accusations of delay in placing orders for vaccines, the government on Thursday defended its vaccine procurement policy saying it has been pursuing Pfizer, J&J and Moderna since mid-2020 for the earliest possible imports, and has even waived local trials for well-established foreign vaccine makers.
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