News Analysis India

Tag: Corona Vaccine

  • Vaccines – Not So Cool!

    Online MI

    Vaccines – Not So Cool!

    In India, it is not so cool. Reference is to the acute shortage of a cold chain for an effective COVID vaccination drive in India.The Covid-19 Pandemic has shaken up the entire world and has invoked a sense of fear, uncertainty and has brought upon immense loss. The world has been going through a very difficult phase and the pain is more evident in emerging economies which are further plagued by a host of shortages from food to adequate health centres and healthcare workers.

    In India,the problems are accentuated because of the huge population and immunizing them is a complex problem based on the procurement, transportation and delivery, not to say hesitancy in taking the vaccine.The Covid-19 vaccination program an ambitious project, was launched on January 16 2021, a commendable attempt to vaccinate1.3 billion population in a two-dose regimen of Covaxin and Covishield. While the move was applauded and seen as a ray of hope there were concerning doubts.

    The current stats at the end of September states that around 87 crore doses were given and the percentage who have received the first dose stands at 29% and those fully vaccinated stands at around 16%, in comparison to the developed countries where the fully vaccinated ranges from 60 to 75%.

    Source: Our World in Data

    Does India have sufficient infrastructure for the procurement, transportation, storage and delivery, specially a cold chain for the COVID-19 vaccine? Does it have adequate facilities and trained officials to administer the vaccine successfully?

    While the problems associated with these different verticals remain a concern,one of the major concerns are associated with the distribution and ultimate delivery of the vaccine in a proper manner.Currently less than 16% of the people in the country have been fully vaccinated – not good, at this rate it would take more than a year to reach the entire population. Although India is believed to have a huge manufacturing capacity for domestic and export purposes, the cold chain supply infrastructure is woefully inadequate and is becoming a critical bottleneck for the vaccination of Covid-19. From a supply chain management perspective,thecold chain supply is of humungous importance in the entire vaccine delivery system.

    As per reports, the vaccine temperature has to be maintained from -2 to -8 degrees or else it will hamper the efficacy of the vaccine.Many vaccines lose potency when exposed to higher temperatures and re-cooling does not help.It is going to be challenging to store vaccine in good condition using cold storage facilities particularly in India considering the geographies and problems of shortage of facilities.These vaccines can be stored using cold boxes, refrigerators, foam packs, vaccine carriers and water packs.Though researchers like the one at IIScare working on a ’warm vaccine’ that can be stored over a month at room temperatures, the current situation is that it requires refrigeration.

    The existing cold supply chain for vaccine infrastructure is insufficient hence the Government of India is planning to utilize existing cold storage network of fruits and vegetables, a smart move. India’s National Centre for Cold-Chain Development has pointed out the ’synergies’ between agricultural, processed-food, and medical cold-chain infrastructure, the existing primary vaccination facilities and the fisheries industry have a lot of cold storage infrastructure, if a part of it can be used for storing vaccines then it would be highly beneficial. Another efficient way to facilitate is to increase the public-private and public-public partnerships. By sharing the load of storage and transportation through partnerships would relieve the stress on the existing infrastructure and facilitate better distribution.

    Another roadblock to efficient cold chain is a shortage of uninterrupted and sometimes total lack of electricity.Away to assist in the vaccine programme is to setup solar-based cold storage facilities in remote areas where scarcity of electricity tends to be an additional hindrance. In this decade, electrical batteries have started to power our houses and cars.The current technology of storage batteries for electric vehicles is also a development that might help the cause of powering cold chains in areas deficient in electrical energy or having power cuts.

    The creation of the infrastructure would not go waste. It would wipe out the current shortage that is present in the primary vaccination. This chain would help increase the access to markets and also reduce the wastage of food products that occur due to a shortage of such facilities especially in remote areas.

    Help has been forthcoming from across the world.UNICEF has procured and supplied to India infrastructure for the cold chain like walk-in coolers, walk-in freezers, ice-lined refrigerators, deep freezers, solar direct drive fridges, cold boxes, vaccine carriers, etc. not only to support the COVID vaccinations but also for the routine vaccination for children in the longer term.The Government of Japan announced on 25th June 2021 that it will provide USD 9.3million worth of cold chain equipment and related assistance to India.

    At the end of it all, we might not have to vaccinate everybody- it could be that herd immunity will set in and it will not be required at all or well, the virus may just fade away.Not so cool, huh?

    Dr. PramodShetty

    Dr. Shetty is a Professor & Area Chairperson – Operations &Supply Chain Management at K J Somaiya Institute of Management.

    View expressed in this article are entirely his own.

  • Now the second dose of corona vaccine can be administered without a message, Covaccine will be taken in 4-6 and Kovishield in 12-16 weeks

    The Health Department has made a new arrangement to ease the process of vaccination. Now people will be able to get the second dose without any message.
    After the completion of the prescribed time, now the second dose will also be taken. The second dose of corona vaccine will be taken only after being told orally.
    You will have to wait 4-6 weeks for Covaccine.

  • 785403 people aged 18 to 44 put corona vaccine in the state, see district wise report

    Vaccination in the state continues on a war footing to curb the corona epidemic. 18 to 44 years old and 45 years old and above are being vaccinated. In this series, the Health Department has issued a report of immunization for people between 18 and 44 years. According to the report, 785403 people aged 18 to 44 have been vaccinated in the state till May 30. District wise report has also been released.

  • 4862 people put corona vaccine in the district

    To avoid corona infection, 18 vaccination centers have been set up in Raipur district. Today, 4862 people aged 18 to 44 got the Corona vaccine in these centers. In which 4641 got Kovishield, 221 people got Kovaxin vaccine. At the same time, the beneficiaries of 1139 frontline worker category got the first dose.

    Health Department officials said that Vaccination Center Raipur 372 in Deendayal Upadhyay Nagar Auditorium, 358 in Cultural Bhawan Changorabhatha, 417 in BTI, 328 in Maruti Mangalam Gudiyari, 300 in Community Hall Kabir Nagar, 223 in Government Arts and Commerce Girls College Devendra Nagar , Official JR Dani Girls Higher Secondary School in Raipur 349. Government Middle School 330 in Purana, Advani School in Birgaon 221, Government Higher Secondary School 118 in Sarona, Government Primary Health Center Tilda 200, Bharat Dewangan Government Higher Secondary School Kharora 204, Primary Health Center Abhanpur In 281, Government Higher Secondary School Nawapara 287, Primary Health Center Arang 288, Government MatriSadan Higher Secondary School Temple Hassaud 140, Primary Health Center Dharsivan 276 and Government Middle School Barabhatha 170 Vaccines were vaccinated by the citizens.

    214 through Antyodaya Ration Card, 1918 people got vaccinated through BPL ration card. Similarly, 1370 people from APL category and 1139 people from frontline worker category got vaccinated.

    It is worth mentioning that for Antyodaya and BPL category, the beneficiaries will have to show the prescribed ID / document along with the ration card, while for the APL category, the prescribed identity card ID. For example, Aadhaar card, pen card or any other valid document has to be shown. There will be no need to show ration card for APL category.

  • The next consignment of Corona vaccine reached Raipur, 2 lakh 50 thousand vaccine supplied from Kolkata

    The next consignment of Corona vaccine has reached Raipur. 2 lakh 50 thousand Kovishield vaccine has been sent to Chhattisgarh from the Vaccine Center in Kolkata. The Kovishield vaccine has arrived in Chhattisgarh with a 7.15 am flight. Let us know that 11447 new corona infected patients have been found in Chhattisgarh on the last day. According to the Medical Bulletin issued by the Health Department, 2305 patients have recovered in the last 24 hours. On the other hand, 91 patients died during treatment. So far 4654 corona infected patients have died in the state. After the confirmation of 11447 newly infected patients on Friday, the total number of infected people has increased to 4 lakh 18 thousand 678. So far, 3 lakh 37 thousand 156 patients have become healthy in Chhattisgarh. After receiving and discharging new patients, the number of active patients has now increased to 76868.

  • PM Modi took second dose of Le Corona vaccine, said – will defeat the virus with the vaccine

    Prime Minister Narendra Modi has taken the second dose of Corona Vaccine on Thursday. The Prime Minister introduced the second dose of the coronavirus vaccine at AIIMS. Prime Minister Modi himself gave this information through Twitter.

    PM Modi also posted a picture of him getting the vaccine. Let us know that on 1 March, PM Modi took the first dose of Bharat Biotech’s Kovaxin.

    PM Modi tweeted that today I took the second dose of vaccine at Delhi AIIMS. Along with this, PM Modi appealed to the eligible people to take the vaccine dose and said that vaccination is one of the few ways to defeat the virus.

    The second dose of Corona vaccine was given by Nisha Sharma, a nurse from Punjab. She was accompanied by Sister P Niveda from Puducherry. P Niveda was one of those who vaccinated her on March

  • India records 89,129 Covid-19 cases, biggest one-day spike since late September

    By Online Desk
    India recorded 89,129 new coronavirus cases in the last 24 hours, the highest single-day spike since September 2020, taking the total tally to 1,23,92,260 on Saturday.

    The country has been recording an unabated spike in cases from over three weeks.

    Maharashtra, Punjab, Karnataka, Kerala, Chhattisgarh, Chandigarh, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Delhi and Haryana are states of “grave concern”.

    Daily cases in the country peaked on September 16, 2020, with 97,894 people testing positive for the virus in a single day.

    The active cases have now increased to 6,58,909 comprising 5.32 per cent of the total infections, while the recovery rate has further dropped to 93.36 per cent.

    Meanwhile, the death toll increased to 1,64,110 on Saturday with 714 new fatalities.

    READ HERE | Maharashtra CM Uddhav Thackeray warns of shortage of health facilities, says lockdown can not be ruled out

    The number of people who have recovered from the disease surged to 1,15,69,241, while the case fatality rate stood at 1.32 per cent, the data stated.

    A total of 24,69,59,192 samples tested for Covid-19 as of Friday.

    Of these, 10,46,605 samples were tested on Friday, said the Indian Council of Medical Research.

    The Centre has advised high-burden states and union territories to take stringent measures for containment of the surge.

    So far, 7.30 crore doses of the corona vaccine have been administered in the country since the drive began on January 16 after approval for ‘Covishield’ and ‘Covaxin’.

    (With inputs from agencies)

  • Corona vaccine will not be implemented on 27 and 28 February, the central government gave instructions

    Corona will not be vaccinated on February 27 and 28. The central government directed the states to stop vaccination due to updating the Kovid portal. At the same time, in the country from 1 March, the 50-year-old elderly will start getting vaccinated.
    The central government has also included 45 years of seriously ill people in it. For all the processes, the Center has updated the Kovin app and named it Kovin-2. Its link will also be available in the Arogya Setu app.
    The code found in it will also be able to get the certificate after the vaccine. At the same time, after the registration of the facility, citizens will be able to get the vaccine in any state. The Health Department of Chhattisgarh has identified 30 lakh elderly and about 5 lakh patients with critical illness.

    The responsibility of registration and vaccination is given to Mitanin and ANM. 3 thousand centers will be built in Chhattisgarh. Apart from this, private hospitals have also been given vaccination permission. The Center has banned the operation of the vaccination program on 27-27 February to the states. The Cowin app will be updated in these two days.

  • The case of ASI’s death, two days before the corona vaccine, state level AEFI committee is investigating

    The ASI posted at the SP office died. It is being told that on February 11, Umashankar Pandey had received a corona vaccine, was admitted to a private hospital for the last 2 days, ASI is still feared to have died from a first-rate heart attack but the cause of death after the post mortem report Officials are talking about being clear.
    After the vaccination, the civil line station in-charge has been found to be corona positive. It is being told that the TI civil line was vaccinated on February 8, after which malaria and typhoid came out after being tested in a private hospital in case of deteriorating health, where today the report on antigen is positive.

  • Bastar commissioner injected corona vaccine

    Divisional Commissioner Mr. G.R. Churendra vaccinated. On Thursday afternoon, he reached the vaccination center in the nursing college located in the Maharani Hospital campus and got the vaccine for protection from the corona. He appealed to the people of the division to vaccinate and defeat Corona for the safety of themselves and family.