Azarenka said she believed getting vaccinated was the socially responsible thing to do
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.
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.
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.
"Proud of all those who are making our vaccination drive a success," Modi said.
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.
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.
Districts with a higher literacy level tend to perform better in vaccination than districts with low levels of school-going population, finds Ishaan Gera.
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".
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'.
'Antiviral treatment will have no change. Spike protein change may affect the immunity protection.'
Hockley was thankful they did not have to introduce vaccine mandates for players and that the idea was "almost irrelevant" due to the vaccination rate.
Adar Poonawalla says it took a five-minute chat with his father Cyrus before making the decision to manufacture Covishield. The bet paid off, and handsomely. Serum Institute now has the capacity to make 4 billion doses of Covishield annually.
To contact MyGov Corona Helpdesk chatbot, citizens can save the WhatsApp number +91 9013151515 on their phones; start a chat by typing 'Book Slot' and send it to the number.
India is committed to supplying COVID-19 vaccines to other nations and such supplies are likely to begin by the end of this year, as the abundant production will not just meet domestic needs but also generate surplus for exports a top government official said on Monday.
More than 200 million Pfizer doses have been administered in the US, and hundreds of millions more worldwide, since December.
Here's a look at just some of the bigwigs who took the anti-Covid jab.
"The vaccination schedule is considered complete 28 days after the administration of a dose for Janssen vaccine and 7 days after administration of a second dose for other vaccines (Pfizer / Comirnaty, Moderna, AstraZeneca/Vaxzevria/Covishield)," the statement added.
Novak Djokovic, the world number one ranked men's player, has reiterated his stand about freedom of choice over taking the COVID-19 vaccine as suspense grows over his participation at the Australian Open in January.
Novak Djokovic has so far declined to disclose whether he is vaccinated and his father told Serbia's TV Prva that governing body Tennis Australia's stance on players being vaccinated was tantamount to "blackmail".
'We have already implemented additional security measures and we will monitor suspicious activities. A thorough security review and an investigation are currently being undertaken.'
There is confusion over the United Kingdom government's vaccine recognition process for Indian travellers as even though Oxford/AstraZeneca Covishield, the India-manufactured Oxford/AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine, is on an updated international travel advisory, India is not yet on a list of 17 approved countries.
An alert government in Delhi should have begun government-to-government discussions with Moscow the moment it came to know that Russians were developing a vaccine. That is to say, almost an year's time has been lost, observes Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
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.
Vaccine inequity remains an issue in India, where less than 2 per cent of the population has received a Covid booster
The Indian Council of Medical Research was in talks with the Serum Institute of India for local manufacturing of monoclonal antibodies (MABs). However, it did not take off, as the volume was much less in India.
What is foreign policy worth if it stands disconnected from domestic realities? Make no mistake, the horrifying visuals of the human suffering in metropolitan India is only the tip of the iceberg. The vast swathes of the hinterland are heaving with untold sorrows, notes Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
The Centre is looking to procure around 1 billion syringes between September and December to support the COVID-19 vaccination drive.
The Union government's role and the prices announced by the vaccine makers raises far too many disquieting questions, observes Prosenjit Datta.
Dominic Xavier offers his take on the vaccine crisis angering India's youth.
The Supreme Court on Tuesday closed the contempt proceedings against yoga guru Ramdev, his aide Balkrishna and Patanjali Ayurved Limited after accepting the apology tendered by them in the misleading advertisements case.
The researchers analysed 2580,021 test results from nose and throat swabs taken from 384,543 participants aged 18 years or older between December 1, 2020 and May 16, 2021.
'Seek medical help if after five days of the first symptom the fever has not subsided.'
'Our study shows a greater risk reduction for people who received an mRNA vaccine after having received a first dose of a vector-based, as compared to people having received the vector-based vaccine for both doses,' Nordstrom said.
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 Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation has granted restricted emergency use authorisation to two new vaccines and a drug for COVID-19, taking the number of preventives and treatments available in India to 12.
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.
'Promises of free vaccination, it appears, are good only for winning elections, and dumping the people thereafter'
ZyCoV-D is a three-dose vaccine administered intradermally.
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.
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