'We lost our place in being first in the epidemic, when it hit India so hard, but we were actually the epicentre of the epidemic from essentially April 2020, for almost an entire year. We had such high cases. We were the country that had the most mixed response.'
'This is a tragedy that must be stopped.'
In her address to the joint sitting of Parliament, President Pratibha noted that the mission has begun to strengthen rural public health infrastructure. The President also said that the vaccine producing institutes in the public sector will be revived to support the immunisation programme.
"Also, 35 per cent deaths were recorded in the age group of 45-60 years, 10 per cent in the age group of 26-44 years and one per cent each in the age group of 18-25 years and below 17 years," the health secy said.
'We need to prove to the world that quality vaccines and R&D are possible in India.'
'At the stage where we are in today in the country, by the time mass vaccination becomes available, it would be around the middle of next year.' 'Most of those people, who got infected this year, will be next year back to level zero -- once again susceptible.'
In a first of a special series on second generation Indian Americans giving back to India, we begin with Meghana Sreevatsava's story.
From Artificial Intelligence to yoga, sign up for courses that will benefit your career in the long run.
The 'terrible' surge of the coronavirus cases in India has severely impacted COVAX's vaccine supply in the second quarter of this year to the extent that there will be a shortfall of 190 million doses by the end of June, according to a joint statement by the WHO, UNICEF, GAVI and CEPI.
With these states imposing lockdowns anew, the health ministry emphasised that the restrictions should be utilised to focus on containment, surveillance and testing in the containment and buffer zones as the key strategy for early detection of cases and fatality management.
The SMC had initially planned to poison the one lakh stray dogs in Srinagar due to the lack of resources to carry out sterilisation. However, after strong protests and threats of court action from animal rights activists, the municipal body has decided to go ahead with sterilisation.
'You have sufficient protection if you take the second dose of the Covishield vaccine at 12 weeks, because this vaccine works in a way where it provides protection in the first dose.'
Adults are as likely as children to fall prey to diseases that immunisation can potentially prevent.
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.
'In 2009 we had 741 new cases of polio. This was the highest in the world. We ran the most apolitical crusade ever. We had the support of every government. We were never short of funds. The central government gave us Rs 11,000 crore a year. In 2011 we had 42 new cases. From 42 to 0 was our most difficult phase,' Mission Director Anuradha Gupta tells Rediff.com's A Ganesh Nadar in an exclusive interview about India's monumental campaign to eradicate polio.
Panacea Biotec Ltd said on Wednesday it has received pre-qualification accreditation from the World Health Organisation for the supply of recombinant Hepatitis B vaccine to UN agencies.
'The credit for managing Trump should go to Modi.' 'Biden is a predictable and rational person with plenty of administrative experience,' notes Ambassador T P Sreenivasan.
'By the time actual action began, it was already too late.' 'The virus was raging.'
Maharashtra govt, California-based Zipline to launch the automated delivery service funded by Serum Institute.
India had the highest number of unregistered children under age five between 2000 and 2012 and the second-highest number of child marriages, according to a UN report which said the country still needs to improve immunisation coverage and stop gender-based sex selection.
In a welcome move, several prominent Islamic clerics have joined hands to educate Muslims on the necessity for vaccination against polio that has been on the rise particularly among children belonging to the community.
The study appearing in the November 17 issue of the journal Science said that vaccination was the key to eradicating polio from countries like India, where the poor sanitation and overcrowding was letting the virus rage unhindered.
Loud applause and cheers rang out as the first jabs were administered to frontline workers at hospitals and healthcare centres across the country on Saturday at the start of the gargantuan COVID-19 vaccination exercise, hailed as a 'momentous' occasion in India's fight against the pandemic.
A massive pan-India inoculation drive against COVID-19 was set in process on Tuesday with more than 56 lakh doses of the Covishield vaccine flown to 13 cities across India from Pune and taken to designated national and state-level stores amid tight security.
Young parents tend to panic at the slightest 'change' in appearance/ behaviour of their newborns. Most of the time, there is no need to worry.
Women are great team players and collaborators, 'but they don't put themselves forward,' Dr Gagandeep Kang, the first Indian woman scientist to be elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society, tells Veenu Sandhu.
Wellness expert Roopashree Sharma tells you how you can use natural methods to improve your health.
Noting that it was his government that had recommended a CBI probe into the actor's death, Kumar said the incident saddened both the state and the country.
It takes time for new parents to understand their baby's needs and respond accordingly. Here is some information that should help.
'Better hygiene practices could lower a person's immunity and make the person susceptible to auto-immune diseases.'
Last year, Jet Airways and Air France-KLM signed an enhanced cooperation agreement' for the development of their operations between Europe and India
Rory McIlroy took a long time to decide he would represent Ireland at the 2016 Rio Olympics but the 27-year-old world number three could now miss golf's return to the Games after a 112-year absence because of concerns over the Zika virus.
'We must not compromise with the standard, the quality. We don't need to be the first to launch a drug but what we need is a Made in India vaccine that the entire world can rely on'
, tells Rediff.com's A Ganesh Nadar, "The strategy of containment is important."
The first COVID-19 vaccine shots in India were given on Saturday to nearly two lakh frontline healthcare and sanitary workers as Prime Minister Narendra Modi rolled out the world's largest inoculation drive against the pandemic that has caused 1,52,093 deaths and upended millions of lives in the country.
The officials asked the residents to take a bath before attending a meeting with the CM so that they 'smell good'.
