The Indian government is set to launch a nationwide HPV vaccination program targeting 14-year-old girls to prevent cervical cancer, utilizing a single-dose vaccine and aiming for equitable access across socio-economic groups.
The Universal Immunisation Programme is one of the largest vaccination projects in the world aimed at protecting children and pregnant mothers from preventable diseases. Under it, the government provides shots for 12 vaccine-preventable diseases, such as polio, diphtheria, tetanus, measles, and hepatitis B, for free.
The Centre has started the process of identifying around 30 crore priority beneficiaries who will be given vaccine in the initial phase. The Centre will procure the vaccine directly and make it available free-of-cost for the priority beneficiaries.
Of the 23.9 million vaccinators who provide vaccination under the universal immunisation programme, 15.4 million will be used for Covid vaccination.
Children below the age of 15 years account for about 10 to 12 per cent of India's overall TB burden.
According to the petitioner, P G Hari, who is a homoeopathy practitioner in Wayanad and president of the 'Jankeeya Manushyavakasasamrakhana Prasthanam' (Organisation Fighting for Protection of People's Rights), "adverse effects" of the vaccine had been reported from Sri Lanka, Bhutan and Bangladesh and no proper studies were conducted before it was introduced in India
Modi government's health ministry is good at making new claims but there is no visible sign of any new programme being initiated, finds out Manoj K.
Each person in the immunisation list would be linked with their Aadhaar cards to avoid duplication and to track beneficiaries.
'Until the case load starts dropping, we will have to keep up the current level of prevention activities.'
A model being considered is to have a combined cold chain approach - where the agricultural cold chain would be combined with vaccine cold chains.
In a letter to the principal health secretary of Maharashtra that was also marked to all states and Union Territories (UTs), the Union Health Ministry said this surge is of particular concern from the public health point of view.
While there is a continuous increasing trend in COVID-19 cases and deaths globally, particularly in America and Europe and the situation in the world is becoming worrisome, in contrast the scene in India is satisfying as the cases and deaths are declining, Dr V K Paul, member (health) at NITI Aayog, told a press conference.
Be it poor, middle class, upper middle class or rich, every individual who is 70 years and above is eligible for getting Ayushman card and will receive free treatment up to Rs 5 lakh at any of the AB PMJAY empanelled hospitals once the expanded scheme gets launched.
Some vaccine frontrunners are in advanced stages of trial and could hit the market by early next year, making the task of securing "last mile connectivity" and ensuring that nothing goes wrong before the shot is administered more urgent.
India has the capacity to store vaccines that may require a lower temperature in the range of -15 to -20 degrees Celsius and there are over 29,000 cold chain points (CCPs) across the country where vaccines are stored at the recommended temperatures, the Centre has told the Supreme Court.
Maggie is among the first set of people contacted in advance by the NHS for the jab based on a pre-determined health risk criteria and will include 87-year-old British Indian grandfather of nine Hari Shukla, who will get his first dose at a hospital in Newcastle.
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.
'You will not have a vaccine for everyone initially.'
Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan on Friday said the COVID-19 vaccination drive will be extended in the coming days and asserted that there should not be any misconceptions about the two Indian vaccines being administered in the country.
'Ultimately, we have to understand that we don't have the supply at the population scale. 'Therefore, it has to be prioritised.' 'That's what the government has done.'
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.
India, which has shipped 'Made In India' COVID-19 vaccines to around 25 nations, on Wednesday urged the international community to stop 'vaccine nationalism' and actively encourage 'internationalism', underlining that hoarding superfluous doses will defeat global efforts to attain collective health security and combat the pandemic.
'A third wave is possible, but we must try to restrict it to a low level by adopting all personal protection and public policy measures to prevent viral transmission, while speeding up vaccination.'
'The government should put the whole road map together for the vaccine and decide how industry can support...' 'They should allow the private sector to vaccinate.'
Over the last four days, the Indian arm of US pharmaceutical giant Pfizer, Pune-based Serum Institute of India and Hyderabad-based pharmaceutical firm Bharat Biotech have applied to the Drugs Controller General of India seeking emergency use authorisation for their COVID-19 vaccines.
Pneumonia and diarrhoea have collectively claimed the lives of over three lakh children in India in 2013, posing a major challenge to public health in the country, a report said.
'Rolling out the vaccine is not a major challenge in India.'
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.
The warning comes after two National Health Service (NHS) workers experienced 'anaphylactoid reaction' symptoms shortly after being injected, but are now said to be recovering well.
Poonawalla wished the country and Prime Minister Narendra Modi success for the vaccination programme.
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.
With the US education system operating independently from the government, universities are adopting varying strategies when it comes to Covid vaccination.
According to the study, 'mixed' schedules of these vaccines induced high concentrations of antibodies against the SARS-CoV2 spike IgG protein when doses were administered four weeks apart.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will flag off the first phase of the pan India roll-out of COVID-19 vaccination drive at 10.30 am via video conferencing.
The mega campaign, to start on Mahatma Gandhi's birth anniversary, will be conducted just before the elections in three major Bharatiya Janata Party-ruled states and also before the 2019 general elections.
The company said it had conducted two separate trials for its intranasal Covid vaccine, one as a primary dose schedule and another as a booster dose, for subjects who have been double vaccinated with the two commonly administered Covid vaccines in India.
Dr Anurag Shrimal tells you how simple lifestyle changes can keep your liver healthy.
Interacting with state chief ministers, Modi underscored the enormity of what he described as the world's biggest vaccination exercise, which begins from January 16, saying over 30 crore citizens will get the jabs in the next few months in India against only 2.5 crore people vaccinated so far in over 50 countries in around a month.
Pune's Serum Institute of India, the world's largest vaccine maker by volume, is placing its bets on the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine candidate AZD1222 with CEO Adar Poonawalla stating he would start manufacturing at personal risk.
'Scientific data has proven that masks can reduce COVID-91 transmission by 53 per cent...A booster dose of vaccine, even if it works, is just a temporary fix'
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