India has administered more than 88.13 lakh Covid-19 vaccine doses in the last 24 hours, the highest ever vaccination achieved in a single day, the Union health ministry said on Tuesday.
The daily COVID-19 cases have remained less than one lakh for 21 consecutive days.
India's drug regulator has given permission to Bharat Biotech to conduct phase-3 clinical trial for its intranasal Covid vaccine as booster dose on participants who have been previously inoculated with SARS-CoV 2 vaccines.
The ICMR-National Institute of Virology has been regularly undertaking studies to understand the protective efficacy of COVID-19 vaccines against emerging variants.
The daily positivity rate was recorded at 1.80 per cent. It has been less than three per cent for last 34 days. The weekly positivity rate was recorded at 1.66 per cent. It has been below three per cent for the last 100 days, according to the ministry.
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.
More than 6.5 crore vaccine doses have been administered across the country so far to frontline workers, healthcare workers, those above 60 and for people aged above 45 with specified co-co-morbid conditions.
Presently, people have to download their vaccination certificate by logging into the CoWin portal.
The death toll has increased to 1,51,727 with 198 new fatalities.
Modi made the remarks at a meeting, held via video conferencing, with district magistrates of over 40 districts having low vaccination coverage.
According to the statement, a significant number of foreign nationals are living in India, especially in large metropolitan areas. In these areas, the potential of spread of COVID-19 is high due to higher population density. To counter any possibility of such occurrence, it is important to vaccinate all eligible persons.
The Johnson and Johnson vaccine, which works with one dose instead of two, got approval on Saturday, the third vaccine cleared in the country after emergency use authorisation (EUA) was given to two-dose shots from Pfizer and Moderna in December last year.
The remarks come amid suspected cases of COVID-19 reinfection being reported from abroad and from Indian states like Telangana, Karnataka, Gujarat, Punjab and Maharashtra.
Any significant adverse effect is unlikely if the second dose of a different COVID-19 vaccine is administered, but reaching a firm opinion on this will need more scrutiny and understanding, the Centre said.
The daily rise in new coronavirus infections has been below 30,000 for 33 straight days.
Each vaccination session will cater to a maximum of 100 beneficiaries and the Union Health Ministry has advised states not to organise 'unreasonable numbers of vaccination per site per day'.
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.
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.
Dominic Xavier wonders why Health Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan and his health ministry are not urgently addressing this vaccine shortage at a time when the nation confronts its worst health crisis.
Covaxin has been indigenously developed by Bharat Biotech in collaboration with the Indian Council of Medical Research.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Wednesday that international travel should be made easier through mutual recognition of vaccine certificates, amid several countries adopting different sets of rules to allow foreigners to enter their territory in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.
'All actions for COVID-19 should be the same as for other routine health conditions.' 'There is no need to report the matter in the media all the time; not on front page please.'
Voicing concern over many countries failing to vaccinate their people, World Health Organisation chief Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus on Thursday called for vaccinating at least 10 per cent of the population of every country by September as he described vaccination as the best way to control the pandemic and reboot the global economy.
More vaccination would have been done in India if the State had not had complete control of all vaccination, notes Ajay Shah.
Choubey said till February 4 total 81 AEFIs, which is 0.096 per cent of the total beneficiaries who have been administered Covaxin, have been reported.
Amid an unprecedented surge in coronavirus cases in the country, the government has decided to allow everyone above 18 years of age to get vaccinated from May 1.
The official expressed hope on the success of the five vaccines that are under different phases of trial in the country.
The death toll climbed to 5,28,943 with 20 fatalities, which include 13 deaths reconciled by Kerala, the data updated by the Union health ministry at 8 am stated.
The Centre wrote to Maharashtra, Punjab and Delhi governments on Wednesday flagging below-par vaccination of eligible beneficiaries, including healthcare workers.
The death toll due to the disease has climbed to 4,61,849.
Maharashtra has emerged as the leader in the COVID-19 vaccination drive as it has administered vaccine doses to 43,42,646 people, an official said on Thursday.
The first dry run of the vaccination drive took place across 125 districts covering all States/UTs on January 2. The dry run was also conducted to familiarise the state, district, block, and hospital-level officers on all aspects of the COVID-19 rollout.
The petitioner said the certificate was his "private space" with his personal details on record.
But it is not clear when the jabs will arrive in the country as a consensus on the indemnity clause is yet to be reached, sources said.
The comments came after AstraZeneca and Oxford University acknowledged a manufacturing error that is raising questions about preliminary results of their experimental COVID-19 vaccine.
The Olympic-bound Indian archers on Wednesday took their second shots of COVID-19 vaccine, becoming the first fully vaccinated lot of athletes from the country ahead of the Tokyo Games.
West Indies batsman Chris Gayle thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi for helping Jamaica by providing COVID-19 vaccines under the Vaccine Maitri initiative.
'Registration for the newly eligible category for COVID-19 vaccination opens today at 4 pm on cowin.gov.in and Aarogya Setu app'
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 coronavirus has to be defeated and vaccination is the way to victory, Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya said, while congratulating the country and healthcare workers for the achieving the 70-crore landmark.
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