Giving nod to one of its poll promises, the newly formed JDU-BJP government under Chief Minister Nitish Kumar's leadership on Tuesday approved free coronavirus vaccine for the people of the state.
India is currently testing six vaccines against coronavirus including — Covishield by Oxford-AstraZeneca and Covaxin by Bharat Biotech — which are in the final stage of trial.
As the US gears up for a massive vaccination effort to beat the Covid pandemic, experts have called upon the federal government and the countrymen to be vigilant against anti-vaccination advocates and their "rumours, misinformation, and conspiracy theories in a fractured media universe".
The vaccine, being developed by Pune-based Gennova, has got the nod to initiate phase 1 and 2 clinical trials.
Punjab has robust cold chain for our universal immunization programme, state has made all the arrangements, said Health Secretary Husan Lal on December 11.
The need to ensure the supply of COVID-19 vaccines has triggered an emergency need for building ample cold storage that will be useful even after the pandemic.
Australian Ambassador to India Barry O'Farrell lauded the country's effort on development of a vaccine against coronavirus saying, "There're many vaccines being produced in countries around the world but there's only one country that has the manufacturing capacity to produce sufficient quantities to satisfy the demands of citizens in every country & that's India."
Covaxin, the COVID vaccine candidate by Hyderabad-based vaccine manufacturer Bharat Biotech Limited, being developed in collaboration with the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), is likely to be available for use of the general public by the end of February 2021, Dr Sanjay Roy, principal investigator (PI) heading its clinical trial at AIIMS, told IANS on Tuesday.
The government has marked 30 crore Indians for the large-scale immunisation of Covid-19 vaccine after it gets the necessary approval, the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare informed in a press briefing on Tuesday.
Pfizer India has become the first pharmaceutical firm to approach the Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) seeking an emergency use authorisation for its Covid-19 vaccine in the country.
As the cold chain points across the country are remodelling themselves to support the storage of the upcoming Covid-19 vaccine, the national capital is expected to receive its first batch of vaccines by the end of December, officials of the Rajiv Gandhi Super Speciality Hospital, the first vaccine storage facility in Delhi.
The Gujarat government has put together the cold chain infrastructure to store and transport COVID-19 vaccine alongwith a system for vaccination and lists of priority beneficiaries, Deputy Chief Minister Nitin Patel said on Saturday.
COVID-19 vaccine will be first given to about one crore health workers from both the public and private sectors.
Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh has said that he will be administered the first dose of the coronavirus vaccine, once it is approved by the Indian Council of Medical Research, before health workers or frontline workers starts receiving it in the state.
Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday ordered authorities to begin mass vaccinations against COVID-19 from next week in Russia, as per Reuters report.
Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine for coronavirus on Wednesday was approved by UK, becoming the first country to approve it against COVID-19, paving the way for mass vaccinations against the deadly novel coronavirus from as early as next week. The British regulator, the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency’s (MHRA), says the jab, which claims to offer up to 95 per cent protection against COVID-19 illness, is safe for roll-out.
US-based biotechnology giant Moderna has said it will request an emergency use authorization from the US FDA and conditional approval from the European Medicines Agency after its coronavirus vaccine showed 94.1 per cent effective rate in the trials.
The PM will be flying back to the national capital after a stopover in Pune, where he will visit the Serum Institute of India (SII), which has partnered with pharma giant AstraZeneca and the Oxford University for the vaccine.
Earlier in the morning, PM Modi visited Zydus Cadila''s plant near Ahmedabad.
Visited Zydus Biotech Park in Ahmedabad to know more about the indigenous DNA based vaccine being developed by Zydus Cadila. Govt of India is actively working with them to support them in this journey: PM Modi
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