'We're getting vaccinated not only for ourselves but also for those around us.'
Sputnik V is already approved in India and Sinovac is unlikely to come in as it does not meet the criteria.
India has said it will consider engaging in development projects in Afghanistan and provide material support to the country in the health sector. The announcement came after Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri held talks with the Taliban regime's acting foreign minister Amir Khan Muttaqi in Dubai.
India currently does not have any XBB 1.5 variant-based vaccines available.
Apollo Hospitals and Fortis Healthcare are open to importing vaccines.
Though there is no official word, the sources said the government is not ready to give in to the indemnity demands of the US drug manufacturers against liabilities in case of adverse effects.
Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya on Tuesday suggested that stickers for houses to notify completion of both doses of COVID-19 vaccines should be given to fully vaccinated families to encourage uptake of vaccine among the population.
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.
As per a statement issued by the civic body, the vaccination drive will resume once it receives a fresh stock of vaccines.
The world is learning about a side effect of the COVID vaccine called Thrombosis with Thrombocytopenia Syndrome, he said.
"Why did Modi ji's government send more vaccines abroad, while vaccinating less people in India?"
A June 11 survey by cLocalCircles across 299 districts puts overall vaccine hesitancy levels at 18 per cent, with 11 per cent of the respondents saying they were not convinced if the currently available vaccines would protect them against the new strains; and 5 per cent said they do not plan to take the vaccine at all.
Dominic Xavier ponders the Vaccine Dilemma: Should he take the shot or not?
This perversity in vaccine distribution needs immediate correction. It requires a complete withdrawal of the 'Liberalised Vaccine Policy', and a 100 per cent takeover of the vaccine procurement by the GoI, asserts R Ramakumar.
'There are only two bottlenecks for universal vaccination.' 'One, is availability of the vaccine.' 'Two, is the logistics for administering the vaccine.'
After reports claimed that filings in patent offices in India, the US, and Europe did not mention ICMR or its scientists, but only BBIL and its scientists, the Hyderabad-based biotechnology (biotech) company clarified that in the "rush" to develop vaccines and file appropriate patents, BBIL had missed adding ICMR's name in the original filings.
The cumulative number of COVID-19 vaccine doses administered in the country crossed 82 crore on Tuesday, the Union health ministry said.
'...What is at stake, however, is his ability to assess the need for vaccinations or whether the vaccine has been tested for a sufficient period of time. And ... he has neither the knowledge nor the studies nor the research work that would allow him to form an opinion about it.'
Some residents also wondered if this was a bid to "divert people to private hospitals" for paid jabs rather than getting free vaccine doses at government centres.
Amid growing concerns over the detection of human metapneumovirus cases in India, health experts have emphasised the virus is not new, and advised people to stay calm and take basic precautions.
In a letter to the prime minister, the Congress chief alleged that the new vaccine policy implies that the central government has abdicated its responsibility of providing free vaccine to all Indians between 18 and 45 years of age.
The Sports Ministry slammed organisers of the Australian Open, saying they have wrongfully denied Indian tennis player Aman Dahiya an opportunity to compete in the junior Grand Slam by rejecting his application for vaccine exemption.
According to Union health ministry officials, over 84.8 per cent of the adult population in India has been administered the first dose.
The decision empowers pregnant women to make an informed choice on taking the Covid vaccination, the ministry said, adding these women can now register on CoWIN or walk-in to the nearest Covid vaccination centre to get themselves inoculated.
India achieved a "historic milestone" of administering 88.09 lakh coronavirus vaccine doses in a single day on June 21, but the numbers dipped to over 53.4 lakh on Tuesday.
Districts with a higher literacy level tend to perform better in vaccination than districts with low levels of school-going population, finds Ishaan Gera.
'I hope that as an association we make the best decision for our business, for our health, for the tournaments, for public.'
Vaccine major Serum Institute of India on Tuesday said the approval for the COVID-19 vaccine 'Covovax' would strengthen immunization initiatives across India and various lower and middle income countries across the world.
'If a fourth wave comes it will be a total surprise to me'
The Centre has ruled out door-to-door vaccination of people and said the inoculation will be done at identified COVID Vaccination Centres, both government and private, registered on COWIN for 'good, germane and rational reasons'.
The Congress on Wednesday attacked the government over the dip in vaccination numbers after a record high earlier this week with former party chief Rahul Gandhi saying the country is not safe unless vaccination is done on a large scale but sadly the government is "unable to move beyond a PR event".
Here's a look at just some of the bigwigs who took the anti-Covid jab.
In a first of its kind, the Indian Council of Medical Research, ICMR, delivered COVID-19 vaccines via drone from the Bishnupur District Hospital to Karang island in Loktak lake in Manipur, a distance of 26 kilometres.
We should be relieved that we got the doses but we must also know where they came from and who was and who was not responsible for this achievement, notes Aakar Patel.
A back of the envelope calculation shows that India has roughly over 680 million doses of Covid-19 vaccines consisting primarily of Covishield doses.
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Azarenka said she believed getting vaccinated was the socially responsible thing to do
More than 200 million Pfizer doses have been administered in the US, and hundreds of millions more worldwide, since December.
The National Institute of Virology (NIV) in Pune under the ICMR has isolated the monkeypox virus from the clinical specimen of a patient, which can pave the way for development of diagnostic kits and vaccines against the disease, officials said on Wednesday.
Several vaccination centres across Mumbai, including a jumbo COVID-19 facility in business district BKC, suspended inoculation on Friday morning due to a shortage of doses, BMC sources said.
