Page 19 - Coronavirus Vaccine

India ahead of America's Silicon Valley in the field of IT: Anurag Thakur

India is ahead of America's Silicon Valley in the field of IT, exemplified among other things by the fact the Covid vaccination certificate here is available digitally while the rest of the countries still have it on paper, Union minister Anurag Thakur has said. The country today is moving towards becoming a digital economy with "chaiwala to fadiwala (roadside vendors)" all doing their businesses with the help of Internet, he said. Digital transactions worth Rs 12.62 lakh crore have been recorded in the country since the BJP came to power in 2014, he said during a meeting of party functionaries at Una last night, according to a release issued on Sunday. Thakur said nine years ago when the Congress government was in power at the Center, inflation was 12 percent and "corruption" was rampant. Today when countries like the United States are struggling with an inflation rate of 8.3 percent, and India's inflation rate is 5.7 percent, he said. Under the leadership of Prime Minister Narend

India logs 128 fresh Covid infections, active cases rise to 1,792

India saw a single-day rise of 128 coronavirus infections, while the active cases have increased to 1,792, according to Union health ministry data updated on Saturday. The death toll has increased to 5,30,745 with four deaths reconciled by Kerala, the data updated at 8 am stated. The total tally of Covid cases is 4.46 crore (4,46,83,250). The daily positivity rate has been recorded at 0.09 per cent and the weekly positivity rate at 0.07 per cent, it stated. The active cases comprise 0.01 per cent of the total infections and the national Covid recovery rate has increased to 98.81 per cent, according to the health ministry's website. The number of people who have recuperated from the disease has increased to 4,41,50,713, while the case fatality rate has been recorded at 1.19 per cent, it stated. According to the ministry's website, 220.56 crore doses of Covid vaccine have been administered in the country so far.

California won't require COVID vaccine to attend schools

Children in California won't have to get the coronavirus vaccine to attend schools, state public health officials confirmed on Friday, ending one of the last major restrictions of the pandemic in the nation's most populous state. Gov. Gavin Newsom first announced the policy in 2021, saying it would eventually apply to all of California's 6.7 million public and private schoolchildren. But since then, the crisis first caused by a mysterious virus in late 2019 has mostly receded from public consciousness. COVID-19 is still widespread, but the availability of multiple vaccines has lessened the viruses' effects for many offering relief to what had been an overwhelmed public health system. Nearly all of the pandemic restrictions put in place by Newsom have been lifted, and he won't be able to issue any new ones after February 28 when the state's coronavirus emergency declaration officially ends. One of the last remaining questions was what would happen to the state's vaccine mandate for

Demand for affordable Indian generic Covid vaccines skyrocket in China

WHO issued a detailed document stating that the Indian vaccine against all variant-related Covid-19 diseases was 71% effective, with an efficacy of 90% against Kappa and 65% against Delta

Higher antibodies in those vaccinated with precaution dose: Mumbai survey

The second phase of the sixth sero survey in Mumbai has shown that persons who have received precaution doses of the COVID-19 vaccine have significantly higher antibodies than those who took two doses of the vaccine, a Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation official said on Friday. The second phase was conducted in the months of September and October last year and included a follow-up of those who had taken part in the first phase, a BMC release said. "About 88 per cent, or 2,733 participants in phase-I survey, took part in the second phase. This comprised 50 per cent front line workers and 50 per cent healthcare workers. Out of the 2, 733 participants, 59 per cent were aged 25 to 45 years, while 41 per cent were in the 45-65 segment. Of the total, 57 per cent were males and 43 per cent were females," it said. "Only 0.7 per cent participants had not received any dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, while 1.3 per cent had taken a single dose, 55 per cent participants had taken both the doses an

Covid-19 vaccination: India may have won a major battle, says Eco Survey

97% of the country's eligible beneficiaries have been given at least one dose, while 90% have got two doses

Prez Biden to end Covid-19 twin national emergencies in US on May 11

President Joe Biden informed Congress on Monday that he will end the twin national emergencies for addressing COVID-19 on May 11, as most of the world has returned closer to normalcy nearly three years after they were first declared. The move to end the national emergency and public health emergency declarations would formally restructure the federal coronavirus response to treat the virus as an endemic threat to public health that can be managed through agencies' normal authorities. It comes as lawmakers have already ended elements of the emergencies that kept millions of Americans insured during the pandemic. Combined with the drawdown of most federal COVID-19 relief money, it would also shift the development of vaccines and treatments away from the direct management of the federal government. Biden's announcement comes in a statement opposing resolutions being brought to the floor this week by House Republicans to bring the emergency to an immediate end. House Republicans are als

Third Covid vaccine booster linked with 90% reduction in deaths : Study

A third booster dose of a COVID-19 vaccine was associated with a 90 per cent reduction in death in people with multiple health conditions compared to two doses, according to a study conducted in Hong Kong. The research, published in Canadian Medical Association Journal, compared data from people aged 18 years or older with two or more chronic conditions, such as high blood pressure, diabetes and chronic kidney disease, who received a third dose between November 2021 and March 2022, compared to people who received only 2 doses. "We found a substantially reduced risk of COVID-19related death in adults with multimorbidity who received a homologous booster dose of BNT162b2, an mRNA vaccine, or CoronaVac, an inactivated whole-virus vaccine," said Esther Chan from The University of Hong Kong. "These results support the effectiveness of booster doses of vaccines of two different technological platforms in lowering mortality among those with multimorbidity amid the Omicron epidemic," Chan .

How future with lower Covid death rate seems like a worthy investment

Unfortunately, turning nasal vaccines into reality has a long way to go. The same is true for any newer approach to combatting Covid

China grants conditional approval for two homegrown Covid-19 drugs

The applications for the innovative drugs XIANNUOXIN and VV116 were submitted by Simcere and a subsidiary of Shanghai Junshi Biosciences, respectively

Long Covid cripples millions, best protection is vaccination, say experts

At least 65 million people are thought to have long Covid, according to a latest review of 200 Covid-19 studies

Maharashtra records 17 new Covid cases in a day; active tally at 80

Maharashtra on Saturday recorded 17 new coronavirus cases that raised the tally of infections to 81,37,120, an official from the state health department said. The death toll remained unchanged at 1,48,421, while the count of recoveries reached 79,88,619 after 18 patients recovered in the last 24 hours, the official said. With this, the state is left with 80 active cases, of which Pune accounts for the highest number of 18 cases, followed by Mumbai with 14 and Thane 10, he said. As many as 8,692 swab samples were tested in the last 24 hours, taking the number of tests conducted across the state to 8,62,29,962, the official said. According to a health department report, Mumbai circle reported the highest seven new cases, followed by four cases in Pune, three in Akola, and one case each in Nashik, Latur and Kolhapur. The recovery rate in the state stands at 98.18 per cent, while the fatality rate is 1.82 per cent, it said. As many as 6,13,962 passengers arrived at Mumbai, Pune and N

iNCOVACC: All you need to know about world's first intranasal Covid vaccine

The vaccine been approved for use as a primary as well as a heterologous (mix-and-match) booster dose in India

Bharat Biotech rolls out India's first intra-nasal Covid vaccine iNCOVACC

Priced at Rs 800/dose for private players, Rs 325 for bulk procurement by govts

China faces challenge due to flawed Covid policies, vaccines: Report

China is facing a significant challenge in the form of Covid-19, due to the Chinese Communist Party's (CCP) flawed and regressive containment policies and ineffective domestically produced vaccines

Health Minister Mandaviya launches Bharat Biotech's nasal Covid-19 vaccine

Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya and Science and Technology Minister Jitendra Singh launched Bharat Biotech's nasal Covid vaccine, iNCOVACC, on the occasion of Republic Day on Thursday. The world's first made-in-India intranasal vaccine was launched at Mandaviya's residence here. The nasal vaccine -- BBV154 -- had received the Drugs Controller General of India's (DCGI) approval in November for restricted emergency use among adults as a heterologous booster dose. According to a statement issued by Bharat Biotech earlier, 'iNCOVACC' is priced at Rs 800 for private markets and at Rs 325 for supplies to the government of India and state governments iNCOVACC is a recombinant replication deficient adenovirus vectored vaccine with a pre-fusion stabilised spike protein. This vaccine candidate was evaluated in phase I, II and III clinical trials with successful results, the Hyderabad-based vaccine maker had said. Clinical trials were conducted to evaluate iNCOVACC as a primary dose

No need for fourth dose of Covid-19 vaccine given current evidence: Expert

Dr Raman Gangakhedkar, former head of epidemiology and communicable diseases at the Indian Council of Medical Research, has discounted the need for the fourth dose of COVID-19 vaccine given the current evidence about the coronavirus and its variants. If a person has taken a third dose of the anti-COVID-19 vaccine, it means his T-cell immune response has been trained thrice, Dr Gangakhedkar said on the sidelines of a function on Tuesday. "The core virus (of COVID-19) has not been changed so much that a new vaccine would be needed, so try and have trust in our T-cell immune response," he said. "Looking at the current evidence (of variants of the virus), it is not that big that there is any need for the fourth dose of the COVID-19 vaccine. There are many reasons for that. Currently, whatever vaccines are there, the virus makes the escape mutants over them which causes infections," he said. According to Dr Gangakhedkar, old people and those suffering from chronic morbidities should ...

US health officials propose once-a-year Covid shots for most Americans

The FDA will ask its panel of outside vaccine experts to weigh in at a meeting Thursday

Mumbai logs 4 new Covid-19 cases, zero death; active tally at 31

As per civic data, the city's coronavirus recovery rate was 98.3 per cent, while the case doubling time was 2,02,183 days

Govt launches U-WIN to digitise India's universal immunisation programme

Carrying vaccination cards of children and pregnant women, struggling to keep a tab on the next jab and other such hassles may soon become a thing of the past. After the success of the Co-WIN platform, the government has now replicated it to set up an electronic registry for routine vaccinations. Named U-WIN, the programme to digitise India's Universal Immunisation Programme (UIP) has been launched in a pilot mode in two districts of each state and Union Territory. The platform will be used to register and vaccinate every pregnant woman, record her delivery outcome, register every newborn delivery, administer birth doses and all vaccination events thereafter, official sources told PTI. The platform that replicates Co-WIN, which has served as the "digital backbone" for India's COVID-19 vaccination programme, was launched on January 11 in 65 districts. The U-WIN is going to be the single source of information for immunisation services, updating vaccination status, delivery outcome, .