News Analysis India

Tag: Covid vaccination

  • Congress and BJP get locked in verbal war on COVID vaccination

    By Express News Service
    NEW DELHI:  The war of words between Congress and BJP goes on. On Friday, Rahul Gandhi held Prime Minister Narendra Modi responsible for the second wave of COVID-19 in the country. Taking a potshot,  Union minister Prakash Javdekar said the Congress leader was going by his ‘toolkit manual’ while making these allegations.

    Calling the PM as an event manager, Gandhi said: “There is no vaccination strategy. The Prime Minister doesn’t think strategically. He is an event manager, he thinks one event at a time. You don’t need events now as events will kill many. You need a strategy with an aim to shut the space for corona.”

    Gandhi added that India has vaccinated only 3 per cent of its people, while the US and Brazil have inoculated 50 per cent and 8-10 per cent, respectively.

    “The PM is responsible for the second wave of the virus, it is the result of his theatrics and the lack of his responsibility. It is time for the PM to be a leader and display leadership skills and courage and come out with excuses and blame others. The buck stops at the PM,” he said.

    “I am again requesting the Government. Get your vaccination strategy in order. Do not give the virus space to mutate. It is going to kill again. Lockdown is a temporary solution. The moment you open the lockdown, the virus will prepare itself and I guarantee you at 3 per cent vaccination we are going to get a third wave,” he added.

    Javdekar said the Congress leader’s press conference was straight out of the party’s toolkit. “People know well that Gandhi’s presser was as per the toolkit,” he said.

    BJP has been alleging that Congress has been working on the basis of a toolkit to build campaign against the government and PM Modi. The minister objected to Gandhi’s use of the term nautanki, saying it’s an insult to the country. 

    Javdekar said that 216 crore vaccines will be available by December this year to ensure vaccination of 108 crore people in the country. He hit out at the former chief of the Congress. “India will get 216 crore new vaccines by December, which will given to 108 crore people. Rahul Gandhi shouldn’t indulge in fear-mongering. India is second fastest on vaccination,” he added.

  • Pak Hindu migrants in Rajasthan will get Covid vaccine, assures Centre in HC

    Express News Service
    JAIPUR: The Centre on Friday assured the Rajasthan High Court that Covid vaccines will be made available for the Pakistani Hindu migrants on the requisite of the state and district administrations in accordance with the SOP. 

    The High Court had taken the media reports and the submission filed by the amicus curaie Sajjan Sigh Rathore seriously which said that Pakistani Hindu migrants are not able to get vaccine due to lack of Aadhaar card. 

    The court had then asked the State and Central governments to respond to the submissions and also ordered the State government to provide food items to the Pakistani migrants.

    On Friday, AAG KS Rajpurohit, appearing on behalf of the state government before the bench of Judge Vijay Vishnoi and Judge Rameshwar Vyas, said that the status of the vaccine is not clear in the central guidelines. 

    The court observed that SOP on vaccination of persons without prescribed identity cards through Cowin issued by central government is elaborate and in no way the Pakistani Hindus could be excluded. The court also observed that in spite  of several directions regarding identification of group of people including in the SOP, the state has not submitted any details regarding identification of such groups.

    ALSO READ | Rajasthan may move SC if Centre doesn’t invite global tender for Covid vaccines

    Mukesh Rajpurohit, ASG, on behalf of the Central Government, said that in the central guidelines, it has been clearly mentioned that after receiving the requisite information from the state and district administrations, the vaccines will be provided to the Pakistani Hindu migrants. 

    On Thursday the Rajasthan High Court had asked the Centre to furnish a factual report on the availability of vaccines to the state government for Pakistani migrants who do not have prescribed identity cards. On behalf of Pakistani migrants, Seemant Loksanghthan, an NGO, had requested to vaccinate all the eligible migrants but the same has not been taken into consideration. 

    Delighted with the court decision, the president of the Seemant Lok Sanghthan, Hindu Singh Soda said, “Vaccination is a basic precautionary measure and its denial to someone because he/she doesn’t have an Aadhaar card is violation of human rights. The court’s decision is a major relief as this vulrunable class will now be vaccinated.” 

    AAG KS Rajpurohit assured the court that the state government is taking full care of the needs of the Pakistani migrants. He said that 200 food packets were distributed through the Municipal Corporation on Thursday. As many as 7,500 Pakistani migrants are staying in Jodhpur. A large number of these people are self-sufficient and do not require food. Despite this, the district administration is making every effort to provide assistance to them, Rajpurohit said. 

  • No tie-ups with anyone for supply of Sputnik V Covid vaccine, clarifies Dr Reddy’s

    By Express News Service
    NEW DELHI: Pharma major Dr Reddy’s laboratories on Friday said it has initiated legal action against “unscrupulous elements” committing fraud in the name of the Covid vaccine Sputnik V in India, while announcing that the vaccine will be fully launched in the country only by mid-June.

    In the last few days, there have been several reports from various quarters in India on alleged tie-ups for the Sputnik V vaccine with residents’ associations, the company said.

    This vaccine, whose 2 lakh doses have been imported thus far in India, had been soft launched in Hyderabad about two weeks back but is available for vaccination so far only in limited quantities in a few cities.

    Dr Reddy’s along with the Russian Direct Investment Fund, the sponsor of the Russian vaccine, in a joint statement said that the firm is the brand custodian of the Sputnik V vaccine in India and hasthe sole distribution rights of the first 250 million doses.

    ALSO READ | ‘Covaxin has a production cycle of 120 days’: Bharat Biotech on delayed availability of vaccine

    “We wish to clarify that Dr Reddy’s has not entered into any partnership or collaboration with any party to supply the Sputnik V vaccine to residential associations, nor has the company authorised any third party or intermediary to supply the vaccine on its behalf in India,” said the statement.

    It warned people against unauthorised individuals offering fake deals or procurement of the Sputnik V vaccine posing as its representatives in India and asked them to alert the authorities immediately, if approached.

    Importantly, the company also said that it has fully put in place cold storage logistics as well as track-and-trace arrangements for the vaccine.

    “These arrangements are absolutely imperative to ensure the safety and quality of the vaccine, and for pharmacovigilance.”

    Ahead of the commercial launch of the vaccine in mid-June, Dr Reddy’s continues to engage in direct talks with the government and the private sector to explore partnerships, as per the statement.

  • Weird order: “Not vaccinated against Covid, No salary” in Chhattisgarh

    Express News Service
    RAIPUR: In a weird order issued in Chhattisgarh amid the second wave of coronavirus infections, the tribal department in the Gaurella-Pendra-Marwahi district, about 160 km from Raipur, has asked all its officials and staff to ensure they either get themselves vaccinated against Covid-19 or else stand deprived of their salaries for the month of June.

    The employees have also been asked to produce their Covid vaccination card in the tribal division of the district collectorate for records as early as possible.

    “In case those found to be not vaccinated, the initiative would be taken to stop their salary for the upcoming month (June) for which they alone will be responsible. The order to be executed with immediate effect”, asserted the official directive issued on Monday by K S Masram assistant commissioner (tribal development department).

    Masram defended his order and said, “One should see the outcome that we secured. Owing to it over 90 percent of the officials and staff have got themselves vaccinated. I didn’t intend to frighten any government employee but our aim to ensure 100 percent vaccination”, he said. 

  • Vaccine absolutely important to defeat pandemic: PM Modi

    Modi extended condolences to those who have suffered and lost near and dear ones in the pandemic, and said he grieved with them.

  • After Moderna, Pfizer too says no to Punjab on vaccine supply, state urges Centre to intervene

    By Express News Service
    CHANDIGARH:  After Moderna, another Covid vaccine manufacturer Pfizer has refused to send direct vaccination to Punjab, citing its policy to only deal with the Central government, state nodal officer (vaccination) Vikas Garg said on Monday.

    Following this development, the state government wrote a letter to the Centre urging the latter to intervene and ask these companies to supply the vaccines to the state government. 

    “Today we have written to Manohar Agnani, Additional Secretary in the Union Health Ministry, who deals with vaccination, to deal with these companies on our behalf so that these vaccine manufacturers can supply us the vaccines at the earliest,” he said.

    Garg said the company, in a communication to the state, said: “Pfizer is working with federal governments across the world to supply its Covid vaccine for use in national immunisation programmes.

    ALSO READ | ‘Important but impractical’: Experts on vaccinating class 12 students before board exams

    “Our supply agreements at this time are with national governments and supra-national organisations with allocation of doses and implementation within the country being a decision that governments take based on relevant health authority guidance. This approach Pfizer has followed across the world,” the pharma major said.

    Garg said that all vaccine manufacturers were approached for direct purchase of various Covid vaccines. We had approached manufacturers of Sputnik V, Pfizer, Moderna, and Johnson and Johnson as per the directions of Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh to explore possibilities of floating a global tender for the procurement of vaccines from all possible sources to ensure early inoculation in the state. 

    He said that now the State is still hoping for a positive reply from Sputnik V and Johnson and Johnson.

    The state was forced to stop vaccination for Phase I and II categories in the last three days because of non-availability of the vaccine.

    Punjab has so far received about 45.3 lakh vaccine doses from the Centre.

  • Vaccine resistance turns violent in MP as locals attack motivators

    Express News Service
    BHOPAL: Resistance to Covid vaccination in rural areas of Madhya Pradesh is now taking a violent turn.

    A team led by a woman tehsildar, which went to Malikhedi village of Ujjain district on Monday to motivate villagers for vaccination, was attacked by villagers belonging to the Pardi community. The Pardis have historically been involved in crimes in MP and adjoining Rajasthan.

    While the women tehsildar, the auxiliary nurse midwife (ANM) and other team members escaped unhurt due to timely action by their car driver, their team member Shakil Mohammad Qureshi (who was the husband of local gram panchayat’s assistant secretary) sustained head injury in the attack.

    A video of the team escaping in their vehicle and the villagers attacking the panchayat assistant secretary’s husband went viral over social media subsequently.

    One of the team members said: “The team comprising woman tehsildar, ANM, Asha workers and the local Patwari had come to the village to remove myths pertaining about vaccination and motivate them for inoculation. While the tehsildar and other team members were talking to villagers, a crowd of over 50 men and youths armed with rods and swords came to the spot and started misbehaving with the team.”

    “Before we could understand anything, the villagers started attacking us. While the tehsildar and other team members managed to escape unhurt, I sustained head injury,” the injured man Shakil Mohammad Qureshi said.

    According to staff at Unhel police station of Ujjain district, a case has been registered against four men for the attack and attempts are underway to arrest them.

    Vaccination exercise is facing resistance, particularly in rural areas and tribal dominated districts and villages of MP. Two cases have so far been registered by police in tribal-dominated Alirajpur district for spreading rumours about vaccination exercise and also provoking commoners to oppose the exercise.

    According to a senior health department official in Indore district, a significant number of those getting the vaccine jabs at vaccination centers in rural areas, are actually those who live in the city, but are driving to village centers for the jabs, owing to lack of slots at crowded vaccination centers in the city.

  • ‘Important but impractical’: Experts on vaccinating class 12 students before board exams

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: The demand by several states, including Kerala and Delhi, to vaccinate class 12 students before conducting board exams is a pertinent point but seems to be impractical at present, several health and education experts have said.

    During a high-level meeting called by Ministry of Education to decide the fate of pending class 12 board exams, Delhi Deputy CM Manish Sisodia had demanded that students be vaccinated before conducting class 12 board exams.

    Noting that around 95 per cent class 12 students are above the age of 17.5 years, Sisodia had suggested that the Centre should consult experts on whether Covishield and Covaxin jabs can be given to them.

    He had also recommended consulting Pfizer for getting vaccines for children since their trials for children have already concluded.

    Assam, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Haryana and Meghalaya have also urged the central government to vaccinate teachers and students on priority to ensure their safety during their time at the test centre.

    A medical expert from a leading private healthcare facility, requesting anonymity, said, “Unless you have a vaccine that is licensed for that age group, you cannot administer it. The trials for Covaxin have begun and we don’t know about Covishield’s trials for the 2 -18 years age group. Only Pfizer is the one available for aged above 12”.

    “The firm is supplying vaccines to countries and it is not yet approved here and it should agree to provide vaccines to India. Even if the Indian vaccines trials are successful, there is already a shortage of them for the existing age groups eligible for vaccination. Practically, it is not feasible in the time lines,” he said.

    Dr Gurpreet Sandhu, President, Council for Healthcare and Pharma, said “as we slowly move towards normalcy and with the active vaccination drive, resumption of normal activities have become a possibility, it would become important to inoculate our younger population”.

    “Although it has been observed all around the world that infections in children are nearly always mild or asymptomatic as opposed to what happens in the adult population. There are very less evidence of potential for transmission in young children and therefore vaccinating can have an impact on overall transmission,” said Sandhu.

    ALSO READ | Delaying board exams till August will hamper college admissions, plans to study abroad: Principals

    Dr Gauri Agarwal, Founder- Genestrings Diagnostic Center and Seeds of Innocence said vaccinating students ahead of exams is a pertinent point which is the need of the hour.

    “It will enhance protection against severe COVID-19 infection and related complications, including MIS-C, a rare but dangerous illness in children exposed to COVID-19.

    “Whenever the vaccine (Pfizer) is authorised for use in India, we must also initiate a mass awareness drive to educate parents so they don’t believe in misleading reports against vaccinating kids,” Agarwal said.

    According to Akshay Budhraja, Consultant, Department of Pulmonology, students are in the vulnerable group and need to be protected from Covid.

    “Trials must be done on the Indian vaccines. Covaxin’s trials are set to start. Even one shot of vaccine is very efficacious and it gives more than 80 per cent protection. The booster dose gives us protection for a long time,” he said.

    Education experts are also divided on the issue with some feeling it is an impractical plan to execute ahead of exams while others advocating it as the need of the hour.

    “Ideally, it would be great if we could vaccinate all the students going for their board exams. However, if we look at the current scenario, it doesn’t seem feasible. Since there aren’t enough vaccines to go around, I don’t see how all the students in the urban and rural areas will get vaccinated,” Alka Kapur, Principal, Modern Public School, Shalimar Bagh.

    “Then there is the anti-vaccine lobby, comprising people who do not trust vaccines. Even though 45 plus people are being vaccinated on priority, not many have come forward. Amid such confusion and chaos, I don’t think it will be possible to vaccinate all the students appearing for the board exams,” she added.

    ALSO READ | Final decision on Class 12 exams to be based on ‘widest possible’ consultation: Sources

    Rajat Goel, Director, MRG School, Rohini, said in order to vaccinate the entire population of Class 12 students before making them appear for offline exams, we need at least 14-16 weeks from now and the vaccination infrastructure has to be accordingly ramped up on national level by next week for them.

    “This needs quick action on the part of the government amid the time of health crisis our country is facing. Not only students but the invigilating staff must also be vaccinated fully for complete safety.”

    “Therefore, it is only viable to look out for an alternate mode for conducting exams rather than the pen and paper mode,” he added.

  • Congress slams Modi government over ‘slow pace’ of Covid vaccination

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: The Congress on Saturday questioned the government’s statement that India will be in a position to vaccinate all of its adult population against the coronavirus by the end of 2021, and warned that if inoculations are not accelerated, it will not be possible to prevent a third wave.

    Senior Congress leader and former Union minister P Chidambaram said both the IMF and the WHO have cautioned India about the consequences of the slow pace of vaccination.

    The claim of the Union Health Minister of getting 216 crore vaccine doses by December 31 to vaccinate the entire adult population by that date must be backed by hard data, Chidambaram said, adding that so far it is not.

    “We need data on capacity of domestic producers, orders placed vaccine-wise, import contracts concluded, agreed schedule of delivery etc. Nothing has been disclosed so far,” he said in a series of tweets.

    Chidambaram said the final warning to the government is that if vaccinations are not accelerated, it will not be possible to prevent a third wave.

    “The Modi government cannot say ‘we did not anticipate these consequences’. The government has been duly forewarned,” he said.

    At a meeting to review the pandemic situation in nine states and union territories on Friday, Health Minister Harsh Vardhan had said, “Between August and December 2021, India will have procured 216 crore vaccine doses, while by July this year, 51 crore doses will be procured.”

    Vardhan also said that by the end of the year, the country will be in a position to vaccinate at least all of its adult population.

    Attacking the government, another senior Congress leader Jairam Ramesh tweeted, “Claim-Jan 2021: Modi Govt will vaccinate 30cr Indians fully by July end.

    Reality “22nd May: 4.1cr Indians got both doses.”

    “Claim-21st May: India will fully vaccinate all adults by end of 2021. Reality-21st May: Only 14 lakh vaccinated whole day,” he said, questioning the government’s assertion.

    “We need vaccines, not (crocodile) tears!” he added.

    The remarks by Congress leaders came on a day Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said COVID-19 vaccination centres for those in the 18-44 age group have to be closed due to lack of doses, and wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi for immediate supply of jabs and increasing the quota of the city.

    So far 50 lakh people have been vaccinated in Delhi.

    Further, 2.5 crore more doses are required to vaccinate all adults in Delhi, he said.

    “With this speed of 8 lakh doses per month, it will take 30 months to vaccinate all the adults alone. By then, no one knows how many waves will arrive and how many deaths will occur,” Kejriwal said, urging the prime minister to raise the quota and supply to the city immediately.

    Earlier this week, the Congress had said the government should issue a white paper on its COVID-vaccination strategy, and urged Prime Minister Modi to accelerate the work on inoculating all Indians against the viral disease on a war footing.

  • Covid-19: Nationwide cumulative vaccination coverage exceeds 19 crore

    By ANI
    NEW DELHI: In yet another achievement, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare on Friday informed that the nationwide cumulative COVID-19 vaccination coverage has exceeded 19 crores.

    “India has achieved a new milestone in its vaccination drive as the cumulative number of Covid-19 vaccine doses administered in the country has exceeded 19 crores (19,18,79,503) today under the Phase-3 of the nationwide vaccination drive,” read an official release by the Ministry.

    A total of 19,18,79,503 vaccine doses have been administered through 27,53,883 sessions, as per the provisional report till 7 am today.

    These include 97,24,339 healthcare workers (HCWs) who have taken their first dose and 66,80,968 HCWs who have taken the second dose.

    Adding to the count, 1,47,91,600 frontline workers have been administered their first dose and 82,85,253 FLWs have been administered their second dose.

    Newly added 86,04,498 beneficiaries of 18-44 age group also got innoculated with their first shot of vaccine. Mounting further, 5,98,35,256 persons of age group between 45-60 years took their first dose and 95,80,860 persons aged between 45 to 60 years took their second dose of vaccine.

    Also, 5,62,45,627 beneficiaries who are more than 60 years old were too jabbed with their first dose and 1,81,31,102 beneficiaries of more than 60 years old were jabbed with their second dose.

    Ten states account for 66.32 per cent of the total doses given so far in the country. They are Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka, West Bengal, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra.

    More than 20.61 lakh tests were conducted in the last 24 hours. With this achievement, India has again set a new record of the highest ever tests conducted in a single day. On another front, the daily positivity rate has declined to 12.59 per cent.

    India’s daily recoveries continue to outnumber the daily new cases for the eighth consecutive day. 3,57,295 recoveries were registered in the last 24 hours. India’s cumulative recoveries have reached 2,27,12,735 today. The national recovery rate has grown further to touch 87.25 per cent. Ten states account for 74.55 per cent of the new recoveries. They are Karnataka, Maharashtra, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, West Bengal, Rajasthan, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar.

    In another positive development, India has recorded less than 3 lakh new cases for five consecutive days now. 2,59,551 daily new cases were registered in the last 24 hours. Ten states reported 76.66 per cent of the new cases in the last 24 hours. Tamil Nadu has reported the highest daily new cases at 35,579, followed by Kerala with 30,491 new cases. The next in line are Maharashtra, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, West Bengal, Odisha, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and Assam.

    On the other hand, India’s total active caseload has decreased to 30,27,925 today. A net decline of 1,01,953 is witnessed in the last 24 hours. It now comprises 11.63 per cent of the country’s total positive cases. Eight states cumulatively account for 69.47 per cent of India’s total active cases. The states are Karnataka, Maharashtra, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Rajasthan, West Bengal and Uttar Pradesh. (ANI)