The Union health ministry has reduced the gap between the second and precaution dose of COVID-19 vaccine for all beneficiaries from nine to six months following a recommendation by National Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation (NTAGI).
The Union health ministry on Wednesday dismissed media reports claiming there was dissent from technical experts about increasing the gap between two Covishield doses and said the decision was based on scientific reason about the behaviour of adenovector vaccines.
The Standing Technical Sub-Committee (STSC) of the National Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation (NTAGI) on Thursday recommended reducing the gap between the second and precaution doses of COVID-19 vaccines from the current nine to six months, official sources said.
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.
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 Supreme Court-appointed panels probing the unauthorised use of Pegasus found some kind of malware in five mobile phones out of the 29 examined but it could not be concluded that it was due to the Israeli spyware.
BCCI has sent a 23-point agenda to all affiliated units 21 days prior to the holding of the AGM.
The media report claiming India bought Pegasus spyware as part of a $2 billion defence deal with Israel in 2017 has triggered a major controversy with the Opposition alleging that the government indulged in illegal snooping that amounted to 'treason'.
The committee has shared an online form consisting of 11 questions seeking comments of lay persons until March 31.
Citing national security, the Centre had refused to file a detailed affidavit in the matter.
Three experts on cyber security, digital forensics, networks and hardware were roped in by the Supreme Court on Wednesday to "enquire, investigate and determine" whether Pegasus spyware was used for snooping on citizens and their probe would be monitored by former apex court judge R V Raveendran.
The inclusion of two new franchises in the Indian Premier League, a discussion on the contentious tax exemption demanded by the ICC for global events in India and the formation of various cricket committees will be on top of the agenda when the BCCI holds its 89th AGM, in Ahmedabad, on Thursday.
Biometric authentication is based on the unscientific and questionable assumption that there are parts of human body that does not age, wither and decay with the passage of time.
Blessed with a computer-like brain and an elephantine memory, Anandji Dossa was a pioneer in compiling cricket statistics and scores. Haresh Pandya pays tribute to the modest stats-man, who has passed into the ages.
