As India prepares to launch its vaccine drive on January 16, here is a look at the options:
The firm presented that Sputnik Light vaccine is approved in 29 countries, including Russia and Argentina.
Sonia called for cancelling all public gatherings and poll rallies in view of the rising number of coronavirus cases.
Three temperature-controlled trucks rolled out of the Serum Institute gates shortly before 5 am and left for Pune airport, from where the vaccines will be flown across India.
Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama was administered the first dose of anti-coronavirus vaccine at Zonal Hospital Dharamsala on Saturday morning.
Asha Parekh seemed to be in good humour as she took her first dose of the COVID vaccination at a Mumbai hospital.
"India expands its vaccine basket! Johnson and Johnson's single-dose COVID-19 vaccine is given approval for Emergency Use in India. Now India has 5 EUA vaccines. This will further boost our nation's collective fight against COVID-19," tweeted the minister.
"(Novak) has said that he views this as a private matter for him. We would love to see Novak here, he knows that he'll have to be vaccinated to play here."
The vaccination rate needs to go up by three to four times, assert Ajay Shah and Amrita Agarwal.
Pfizer can show the FDA approval to the Indian regulator and present a case that based on whatever data submitted, the US regulator has granted a full marketing nod, says Sohini Das.
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.
"Personally I am opposed to vaccination and I wouldn't want to be forced by someone to take a vaccine in order to be able to travel," Djokovic said in a live Facebook chat with several fellow Serbian athletes.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday identified agriculture, education and health as three sectors where he believes technology can play a big role, and highlighted efforts of his government.
Decision on spectators by March, says Tokyo Olympics OC.
The CM urged the Centre to provide it 85 lakh doses per month so that all the Delhiites could be vaccinated in the next three months.
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.
RIL, Capgemini, IndiGo among companies which have offered to pay their employees' vaccination cost.
India achieved a major milestone in its vaccination programme against COVID-19 as the cumulative vaccine doses administered in the country surpassed the 100-crore mark on Thursday.
The United States has so far allocated only 7.5 million doses of Covid vaccines to India, which is not enough, a top Indian-American Congressman said while urging the Biden Administration to do more.
India stopped the export of Covid vaccines in mid-April.
COVID-19 Vaccines Global Access, abbreviated as COVAX, is a worldwide initiative aimed at equitable access to COVID-19 vaccines directed by Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations, and the World Health Organisation.
'We have 25,000 private hospitals participating in this exercise and if each of these hospitals does 200 vaccinations per day, that makes it 50 lakhs.'
New infections have spiked ahead of the Olympics, which are set to start in July
865 million Indian adults require vaccination.
Researchers at Public Health Scotland and the University of Edinburgh, UK, found that the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine offered better protection against the Delta variant compared to the Oxford-AstraZeneca preventive, known as Covishield in India.
The Indian Olympic Association (IOA) on Thursday said all the Tokyo Games-bound athletes and officials have got their first COVID-19 vaccine and they will get their second doses before their departure from the country for the multi-sporting spectacle.
The national capital had 19,000 doses of Covishield and 2,39,000 doses of Covaxin on Monday morning, according to a bulletin.
The government's move to freely supply coronavirus vaccines to the states for universal inoculation and extend free rations to help the poor tide over the pandemic will only add an additional 40 bps of GDP to fiscal deficit, says a report, which also called for more transparent vaccine distribution plan for efficient vaccine allocation to the states.
Calling vaccination an exercise in "preparedness and prevention", the vaccinologist said the immune response that is made has nothing to fight immediately but "we train the immune system to recognise the virus if and when it comes".
Addressing a press briefing, Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan said Zydus Cadila, Sputnik V, Biological E and Gennova are other vaccines also in the pipeline which are in advanced clinical trials in India.
The sources said all stakeholders will have to work together to adjust the schedules as required and the pandemic can only be dealt collectively by such cooperation.
The states and Union territories were also urged not to store, reserve, conserve or create a buffer stock of the COVID-19 vaccines, the Union health ministry said in a statement, a day after the start of the second phase of India's inoculation drive in which the coverage has been expanded to include everyone above 60 and those over 45 with specified co-morbidities.
A study conducted by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) has observed that COVID-19 vaccination did not increase the risk of unexplained sudden death among young adults in India, the government informed Parliament on Friday.
The results reported from the observational studies, on average, show that vaccination had 95 per cent efficacy against severe disease both from the Delta variant and from the Alpha variant, and over 80 per cent efficacy at protecting against any infection from these variants.
"Vaccinating oneself may not only be to protect oneself but also in the larger interest of public health."
In his remarks in New Delhi at an all-party meeting held virtually, Modi said healthcare workers involved in treating COVID-19 patients, frontline workers, who include police personnel and municipal staff, and old people suffering from serious conditions would be inoculated on priority.
The parties intend to produce over 300 million doses of the vaccine in India per year.
Asserting that India is on track to vaccinate its entire adult population by December, top officials on Monday said a blueprint is in place to ensure a total supply of 187.2 crore doses by the year-end that would be enough for the country's 94 crore 18-plus population.
"Corona vaccine is the need of the country. You all should also raise your voice for it. Everyone has the right to a safe life," he said in a tweet.
Mumbai police have arrested four persons for allegedly duping a housing society in suburban Kandivali by organising a COVID-19 vaccination camp fraudulently in the name of a private hospital, an official said on Friday.
© 2026 Rediff.com - Investor Information - Advertise with us - Disclaimer - Privacy Policy - Sitemap - Feedback - About us - Terms of use - Grievances