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.
All COVID vaccines do not prevent infection and are primarily disease-modifying, said Dr Balram Bhargava, director general, Indian Council of Medical Research on Thursday.
A nasal vaccine, one expert said, is a "fantastic idea" for two reasons -- one, it can potentially create sterile immunity, and two, it is easy to administer and thus scalable.
'In India, there's currently evidence the Centre has not managed a smooth vaccine rollout.' 'It is now falling back on blaming states, which are facing vaccine shortages,' points out Devangshu Datta.
He said that he has got a reply that "chief secretary will look into the matter."
Calling for 'equal recognition of vaccines', COVAX on Thursday urged all governments to recognise as 'fully vaccinated' those people who have received COVID-19 vaccines deemed safe by World Health Organisation, saying any move that restricts travel of people based on the vaccines they have received is 'counter-effective, both in spirit and outcome'.
The West Bengal government is issuing certificates of COVID-19 vaccination to the people in the age group of 18-44 sponsored by the state with the photograph of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.
Delhi on Monday sounded an alert of its depleting vaccine stock, with Health Minister Satyendar Jain saying that the national capital has only one day's Covaxin jabs left and its Covishield doses will last for just three to four days.
According to a report by the National AEFI Committee, a 68-year-old man died due to anaphylaxis (severe allergic reaction) after being vaccinated on March 8, 2021.
Former Union home minister Chidambaram lashed out at the government over the alleged sluggish pace of inoculation against the viral disease and claimed that the country will not achieve 100-per cent first-dose vaccination by December 31.
The Centre told the Bombay high court on Tuesday that a door-to-door COVID-19 vaccination programme for senior citizens, specially-abled, bed-ridden and wheelchair-bound people is currently not possible, but it has decided to start 'near-to-door' inoculation centres.
'There is more likelihood of dying from lightning than from vaccine induced blood clots.'
The Centre has shared a set of parameters with all states and UTs to enable service providers and monitoring teams under the national COVID-19 vaccination programme to identify any fake COVID-19 vaccines so that they are not administered in the country.
The durability of immunity post COVID-19 vaccination persists for nine months or more and a precautionary dose of vaccine which will be administered to healthcare and frontline workers and citizens above 60 years with comorbidities is to mitigate the severity of infection, hospitalisation and death, the government said on Thursday.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi's announcement that the central government will provide free coronavirus vaccine to states will help ensuring quick rollout of vaccine, uniformity of procurement prices and resuming normal economic activities at the earliest, India Inc said on Monday. Industry chamber PHDCCI said that the increased role of the central government in the vaccination procurement process would help make vaccination drives further effective and maximise the supply in the country in relatively less time. "This would be a crucial step in making the country COVID free sooner than later," it said.
'I want to send a positive message to people that they should not fear the Covid vaccine.'
'Patients under the scheme may ultimately have to go to private hospitals.'
ZyCoV-D is a three-dose vaccine administered intradermally.
If the government had paid enough to begin with, or if it had made serious advance purchase commitments that allowed the vaccine producers to mobilise necessary investment, then it is possible to imagine more free or subsidised vaccines such as are available in developed economies, asserts Mihir S Sharma.
Due to the unavailability of enough number of vaccine doses, the COVID-19 vaccination drive in Mumbai will be suspended on Thursday at the centres run by the city civic body and the Maharashtra government, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) said.
India will resume export of surplus COVID-19 vaccines next month under the 'Vaccine Maitri' programme and to meet its commitment to the COVAX global pool, but vaccinating its own citizens remains the topmost priority of the government, health minister Mansukh Mandaviya said.
The method of data collection has a high risk of bias, the ICMR DG said.
The cost of not vaccinating the entire population quickly will be far higher than bearing the entire cost of vaccination, points out Prosenjit Datta.
The Union health ministry said in a statement on Monday that over 23,000 adverse events have been reported since the vaccination drive involving Covishield and Covaxin vaccines started in the country and of these 700 cases were reported to be serious.
CEO of Serum Institute of India hints that he may start producing in Britain and speaks about threatening calls from the rich and powerful
The Commonwealth of Dominica will bestow its highest national award, the Dominica Award of Honour, upon Prime Minister Narendra Modi this month in recognition of his contributions to Dominica during the COVID-19 pandemic and his dedication to strengthening the partnership between the two countries.
The Delta variant of COVID-19, or the B1.617.2 variant of concern (VOC) first identified in India, is about 60 per cent more transmissible than the Alpha strain identified in the United Kingdom and also reduces the effectiveness of vaccines to some extent, UK health experts report.
This means that half of adults are cleared under CDC guidelines to not wear a mask in most indoor and outdoor settings.
A team at Bristol University used recently developed techniques to validate that the vaccine accurately follows the genetic instructions programmed into it by the Oxford University team.
'The problem is delaying (or missing) the second dose would probably keep you at a 20 per cent risk of still getting COVID-19, till you are fully immunised.'
According to Moderna's policy, it deals with the government of India and not with any state government or private parties, the Punjab government said in a statement.
The protest, organised by Global Justice Now, wants the World Trade Organisation to suspend the enforcement of patents for coronavirus vaccines to enable poorer countries to inoculate their populations.
While India launched the COVID-19 vaccination drive on January 16, and has administered over 32.36 crore doses till date, the US which started its inoculation drive on December 14, 2020 has given over 32.33 crore doses.
With around 2 million Covid vaccine doses likely to get wasted in December, leading hospital chains have now started to give it gratis to citizens. Sohini Das and Ruchika Chitravanshi report.
'Vaccination is very important for an economy to start functioning properly.'
The centre informed that no fresh registration would be required for the precaution dose on the CoWIN.
Dominic Xavier wonders if the PM will opt for the Indian-made COVID-19 vaccine for the sake of Atmanirbhar Bharat.
Himachal Pradesh has become a champion by being the first state to administer the first dose of Covid vaccine to all eligible people despite logistic difficulties, he said through video conference.
The Indian Olympic Association secretary general Rajeev Mehta on Monday requested the Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan to expedite the process for the vaccination of the country's Tokyo Olympic-bound athletes and officials against COVID-19.
The government is helping vaccine manufacturers get more production units, financing and supply of raw materials, the Prime Minister's Officer said on Friday after Prime Minister Narendra Modi reviewed the progress of the country's COVID-19 vaccination drive.
