Tag: COVID 19 Vaccine in India

  • Over 2.14 crore Covid-19 vaccine doses still available with states: Centre

    Cumulatively, 28.87 crore vaccine doses have been administered so far under the nationwide inoculation drive.

  • No scientific evidence of Covid vaccination causing infertility in men, women, says Health ministry

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: The Union health ministry on Monday reiterated there is no scientific evidence of COVID-19 vaccination causing infertility in men and women and asserted the jabs are safe and effective.

    There have been media reports expressing concern regarding infertility due to COVID-19 vaccination among people of reproductive age, the ministry said in a statement.

    Over the last few days, certain media reports have highlighted the prevalence of various superstitions and myths in a section of healthcare workers (HCWs) and frontline workers (FLWs) including the nurses, it said.

    Such misinformation and rumours were spread during the vaccination drives against polio and measles-rubella too, it added.

    ALSO READ | No local body polls in state till 70 per cent of people vaccinated: Maharashtra Minister

    The ministry said it has clarified in the FAQs (frequently asked questions) posted on the website that none of the available vaccines affect fertility, as all the vaccines and their constituents are tested first on animals and later on humans to assess if they have any such side effects.

    Vaccines are authorised for use only after their safety and efficacy is assured, the statement said.

    “Furthermore, in order to curb the prevalent myth regarding infertility due to COVID-19 vaccination, the government of India has clarified that there are no scientific evidences suggesting COVID-19 vaccination can cause infertility in men and women. The vaccines have been found to be safe and effective,” it stated.

    The National Expert Group on Vaccine Administration for COVID-19 (NEGVAC) has recommended the COVID-19 vaccination for all lactating women, terming it as safe with no need to stop or pause breastfeeding before or after the vaccination.

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  • Over 47 lakh Covid vaccine doses administered on day one of revised guidelines: Centre

    India #39;s cumulative COVID-19 vaccination coverage exceeded 28 crore on Sunday with 28,00,36,898 doses being administered through 38,24,408 sessions.

  • India to have 257 crore Covid vaccine doses by Dec for double dose vaccination of people: JP Nadda

    JP Nadda said 130 crore people of the country have come forward to take vaccines on the call of PM Narendra Modi, despite the opposition trying to mislead them and create obstructions.

  • Night vaccination drive in Kashmir villages draws encouraging response

    Express News Service
    SRINAGAR: Healthcare workers have launched a night vaccination drive against Covid in three remote villages of Bandipora in north Kashmir, where males usually go out for grazing cattle during the day and return in the evening. Block Medical Officer (BMO) Bandipora Dr Masrat Iqbal told this paper that the drive is aimed at 100% vaccination of the north Kashmir district.

    Three villages Kudara, Sumlar and Chandaji – have been chosen for the 7-11 pm slot since most males in these villages return only in the evening. “We changed our strategy – rather than they coming to us, we decided to reach their doorstep at night for their convenience,” he said. Health workers have to walk many kilometers to reach these three villages and stay overnight to be able to vaccinate the villagers.

    “Had we not launched night vaccination, we would not have been able to vaccinate a large population of the district,” the BMO said. He said of the total 500 villagers falling in the 45-plus age group, 370 have been vaccinated during the night vaccination drive. “The left-outs will also be vaccinated in the coming days to achieve the 100% vaccination target,” said Dr Masrat. For vaccinating those in the 18-45-year age group, he said the administration was registering such people.

    “After completing their registration, we will be vaccinating them too. About 1,000 villagers in the three villages fall in the category of the 18-45 age group,” said Dr Masrat. He said the night vaccination drive has received a good response from villagers as they don’t have to travel to vaccination centres.

    He said due to rumours, there was some hesitancy among villagers initially, but with proper counseling and awareness, they have chosen to get vaccinated. The remote Weyan hamlet in Bandipora district was the first village in India where all adult population was vaccinated against the pandemic. “It was all possible due to our door-to-door vaccination campaign,” he said.

  • India’s cumulative Covid vaccination coverage crosses 24-crore mark: Centre

    As more people are getting recovered from COVID-19 infection, the ministry informed that India #39;s daily recoveries continue to outnumber the daily new cases for the 28th consecutive day.

  • Centre bars states from sharing Covid-19 vaccine information

    By Express News Service
    NEW DELHI: The Union Health Ministry has prohibited states from sharing Covid-19 vaccine stock-related information to any other agency or organisation, calling it “sensitive”, it has emerged. States are supposed to update the Centre on stock and transactions of all vaccines, those included in its Universal Immunisation Programme as well as using the Electronic Vaccine Intelligence Network (EVIN), a management system implemented in India with the help of the United Nations Development Programme.

    The eVIN system is used to track the vaccine stock status and temperature at all levels of vaccine storage from the national to sub-district levels after being launched in 2012-13. 

    ​“It is overwhelming to see that all states are using the system to update the stock and transactions of Covid-19 vaccines on a daily basis,” said a letter issued to the mission director of the National Health Mission in states on June 4 by the ministry.

    The letter added that data and analytics generated by eVIN for inventory and temperature are owned by the ministry and should not be shared with any other organisation, partner or media agency, online and offline public forums without consent. 

    “This is sensitive information and to be used only for programme improvement,” the letter added.

    The letter has come at a time when questions are being raised on the lack of centralised vaccine availability data in the public domain and opacity in the vaccine distribution plan to states. Officials in the ministry, however, insisted that this was a routine letter issued to states and is sent periodically on all vaccines and was not issued specifically for Covid-19 vaccines.

    “That is because information related to vaccine consumption and cold storage etc. can be used by private companies to push their trade agendas in specific areas,” clarified an official in the reproductive and child division of the ministry. Another official said data related to vaccines is also updated on the CoWIN portal.

  • Against BJP’s vaccine, but will take government of India’s vaccine: Akhilesh Yadav on policy change

    By PTI
    LUCKNOW: Samajwadi Party leader Akhilesh Yadav on Tuesday welcomed the Centre’s decision to provide free vaccines to states for all above 18 years starting June 21, and asked people to get themselves vaccinated.

    The former Uttar Pradesh chief minister also said that he would get himself vaccinated.

    “Seeing the public outrage, the government instead of politicising the corona vaccine announced that it would give the vaccines doses. We were against the BJP’s vaccine but welcome the vaccine of ‘Government of India’. I will also get vaccinated. I appeal to those who could not get vaccinated for the lack of vaccines to do so,” he said in a tweet in Hindi.

    In an address to the nation on Monday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had announced that the central government will provide free vaccines to states for all above 18 years starting June 21.

    When the coronavirus vaccine was launched in January, Yadav had sought to know from the government how the drive will be conducted and when the poor will get the shot free of cost.

    The former Uttar Pradesh chief minister had said he has faith in doctors of the country but not the government.

    Yadav had also triggered a controversy, saying he will not get himself injected with a “BJP vaccine” against coronavirus.

    “We have full faith in our doctors but not in the government. It is good that coronavirus vaccine has come out but only believe what the doctors say, not Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath,” he had said.

    SP founder Mulayam Singh Yadav had got himself vaccinated at a private hospital here on Monday.

    The BJP’s Uttar Pradesh unit had described it as a “good message”, and said SP workers and its president should take inspiration from him.

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  • TNIE Covid Think Tank: Where do we go from here?

    Express News Service
    India needs a Covid Vaccination Commission and (if we get that) in no time, we can vaccinate 70 per cent of the population just as fast as we conduct polls, said Dr Ashok Seth, chairman, Fortis Escorts Heart Institute and the chairman of Cardiology Council, Fortis Group of Hospitals while speaking to senior journalist and Author Kaveree Bamzai at The New Indian Express’ COVID Think Tank.

    Dr Seth said that if India can help the entire country vote in a matter of days, it surely can vaccinate people in a few weeks. All it needs is a commission like the Election Commission of India (ECI). 

    “If we can make 70 per cent of the population vote in a period of a few days, it takes less time to get vaccinated as compared to voting, there’s less screening, there’s no police protection needed and we can have a vaccination centre 500 metres from our home. If we have the 200 crore doses from August then there is no reason why we cannot vaccinate. Why can’t we have a COVID Vaccination Commission of India just like the ECI? A one-stop-shop that gets the vaccines from anywhere in the world, decides the cost and figures out the logistics. it’s not such a big deal,” he said.

    But that’s the future. Till now, COVID has been a traumatic experience for the doctors and the helplessness has been eating them on the inside, said the senior cardiologist. He added there are two aspects to what the doctors have experienced. 

    ​They had to keep up the demeanour to provide the patients and their relatives with hope and courage and also to encourage their juniors, while inside they were dejected.

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  • Fighting Covid: Vigilant villagers set own norms to keep Covid-19 away

    Express News Service
    JAIPUR/PATNA/SRINAGAR/GUWAHATI: Despite the second wave of Covid-19 causing havoc in rural India, there are places where the disease faced resistance. A Combination of Covid-appropriate behaviour, shutting out of outsiders and strict quarantining helped these villages keep the infection out. There was no slackening of restrictions, as the authorities as well as people came together.

    Rajasthan’s Udaipur has had 55,690 Covid cases of which 2,106 are active. However, there are nine villages in the tribal-dominated Dhar panchayat with no cases since the pandemic began. Surprisingly, none of them has been vaccinated. The key reason is the discipline displayed by villagers. They implemented their own lockdown and nobody travelled to urban areas.

    These villages are inhabited by around 7,000. Block Development Officer Jitendra Singh says a vigilance team went door to door. SDO Aparna Gupta praises Panchayat Elementary Education Officer Dr Satyanarayan Suthar, who guided the team in monitoring the situation. “Suthar must have gone to each house at least 10 times. He also treated influenza-like illness symptoms,” says Singh.

    Bat ‘protectors’

    A village in Bihar’s Vaishali has thousands of bats on an old banyan tree. Contrary to beliefs that the virus originated from this creature in China, 9,000 people in Rampur Ratnakar village worship the bats as ‘gram-rakshak’ (village protectors). There are reasons other than that why the village has not reported any Covid case since its outbreak last year.

    The village isolates for 14 days anyone who returns from outside. Amod Kumar Nirala, state president of Bihar State Panch-Sarpanch Sangh, says all villagers, kids included, wear facemasks. “When the first wave arrived, we moved across villages and spread awareness,” says Nirala. Around 60% of people above 60 and 5% in the 18-plus category have been vaccinated.

    J&K’s Chanapora village, about 40 km from Srinagar in Pulwama district, has remained untouched. Inhabited by around 500 people with 60 families, the village has not reported any case in the second wave. J&K has so far recorded 2,97,602 cases and of them, 13,680 are from Pulwama. Mohammad Hussain, a Chanapora resident, says the village has mostly farmers who are confined to activities at home and farms. “We are busy in farms, where social distancing norms are followed. We avoid unnecessary travel.” Hussain says some villagers have government and private jobs, but they follow Covid SOPs by social distancing and wearing masks. “So far, there has been no positive case in the village in the second wave,” informs Dr Javaid, Block Medical Officer (BDO) of Ratnipora. 

    No outsiders

    In Assam’s West Karbi Anglong district, Shikdamakha village has not seen any Covid case. The secret: outsiders are not allowed. Villagers say they have managed to ward off the virus so far also by following guidelines. “Directions are clear. We must not move around unnecessarily, wear masks and use sanitizer. Since most people are farmers who spend their day in the fields, mingling with outsiders does not happen,” says Horsing Kholai, former secretary of the Village Council.

    “There are youths working in cities. We are not allowing them into the village for the fear of infection,” Kholai says. Shikdamakha has no healthcare facility. The nearest health sub-centre is 2 kms away.

    Similarly, a village in Chhattisgarh’s Raipur has not reported any Covid case. Manpahri in Kota development block of Bilaspur, about 130 km east of state capital Raipur, has allocated roles and responsibilities to gram panchayat representatives. “We raised awareness on preventive measures,” says Ganpat Ram, a panch.

    Each individual aged above 45 has been inoculated. “Manpahri and some adjoining villages of the Kota division are free from Covid. Residents are self-motivated and follow protocols,” says TR Bharadwaj, sub-divisional magistrate.

    Following guidelines​In Uttarakhand, Khalad and Chukum villages in Nainital district have passed the test of time. Villagers have their own guidelines to prevent the spread of the virus. Rules include mandatory Covid reports for outsiders, 14-day isolation, medicines and a controlled diet of vegetables and grains produced in the village. “Not one case has been detected due to strict adherence to Covid behaviour,” says village panchayat officer Pitambar Arya.

    In Punjab, Dhirpur village in SAS Nagar district has a population of just 300. It has had no Covid case. Sarpanch Jasvir Kaur says since last year, the panchayat decided nobody will be allowed to go out and visitors won’t be allowed. “Only those with government jobs are allowed to go out on duty and return straight to the village after duty hours,” says Kaur. Only a dozen selling milk are allowed to go out, but they have to follow protocols. “All villagers have been tested. None of them positive,” says Kaur.

    Jharkhand’s Saadam, a small village under Gomia Block in Bokaro, had hit headlines after the first-ever fatality in the state. Since then, the village has not seen any Covid case. Villagers strictly follow Covid-appropriate behaviour and don’t let outsiders in.

    (With inputs from Ejaz Kaiser, Vineet Upadhyay, Harpreet Bajwa, Mukesh Ranjan)

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