News Analysis India

Tag: COVID vaccine

  • India reports 3205 new Covid cases, 31 fatalities 

    By PTI

    NEW DELHI: India reported 3,205 new coronavirus infections in a day, pushing the number of active cases to 19,509 and the overall tally to 4,30,88,118, according to the Union Health Ministry data updated Wednesday.

    The data released at 8 am also showed that 31 fatalities were reported in a 24-hour span, taking the overall death toll to 5,23,920.

    An increase of 372 cases has been recorded in the active COVID-19 caseload which now stands at 19,509, according to the data.

    The active cases constitute 0.05 per cent of the total infections, the health ministry said, adding the country’s COVID-19 recovery rate is 98.74 per cent.

    The daily positivity rate was recorded at 0.98 per cent while the weekly figure was recorded at 0.76 per cent, the ministry said.

    The number of people who have recuperated from the disease rose to 4,25,44,689, while the case fatality rate was recorded at 1.22 per cent.

    The cumulative doses administered in the country so far under the nationwide COVID-19 vaccination drive has exceeded 189.48 crore.

    India’s COVID-19 tally had crossed the 20-lakh mark on August 7, 2020, and surpassed the one-crore mark on December 19.

    It crossed the grim milestone of two crores on May 4 and three crores on June 23.

  • Gap between second dose of COVID jab, precaution dose to be reduced to six months soon

    By PTI

    NEW DELHI: The government is likely to soon reduce the gap between the second dose of COVID-19 vaccine and the precaution dose from the current nine months to six months, official sources said on Wednesday.

    A recommendation on lessening the gap is expected to be made by the National Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation (NTAGI) which is set to hold a meeting on April 29, they told PTI.

    Studies at ICMR and other international research institutions have suggested that antibody level wanes after about six months from the primary vaccination with both doses and giving a booster increases the immune response.

    All those above the age of 18 who have completed nine months after the administration of the second dose are eligible for the precaution dose.

    “Taking into account the scientific evidence and findings of the studies done here and internationally, the gap between the second dose of COVID-19 vaccine and the precaution dose will most likely be reduced from the current nine months to six months soon.

    A final decision will be taken based on the recommendations by the NTAGI which is set to meet on Friday,” a source in the know of the developments told PTI.

    India began administering precaution doses of vaccines to healthcare and frontline workers and those aged 60 and above with comorbidities from January 10.

    The government removed the comorbidity clause making all people aged above 60 eligible for the precaution dose in March.

    According to health ministry data, 5,17,547 precaution doses have been administered in age group 18-59 years so far.

    Besides, 4736567 healthcare workers, 7447184 frontline workers and 14545595 individuals aged 60 and above have taken the precaution shot.

    India on April 10 began administering precaution doses of COVID-19 vaccines to all aged above 18 years at private vaccination centres.

  • DCGI grants EUA to Corbevax for those aged 5-12, Covaxin for 6-12 age group

    By PTI

    NEW DELHI: India’s drug regulator has granted emergency use authorisation for Biological E’s COVID-19 vaccine Corbevax for those aged five to 12 years and Bharat Biotech’s Covaxin for children in the age group of six to 12 years, official sources said on Tuesday.

    The approval by the Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) comes following recommendations by the Subject Expert Committee (SEC) on COVID-19 of the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation(CDSCO).

    The SEC had last week reviewed the application of both the companies seeking emergency use authorisation for Corbevax and Covaxin for use in children of five to 12 years and six to 12 years age group, respectively.

    Biological E’s Corbevax is being used to inoculate children against COVID-19 in the age group of 12 to 14 years.

    Covaxin has been granted Emergency Use Listing (EUL) by the DCGI for the age group of 12 to 18 years on December 24, 2021. India began inoculating children aged 12-14 on March 16.

    The countrywide vaccination drive was rolled out on January 16 last year with healthcare workers getting inoculated in the first phase. Vaccination of frontline workers started from February 2 last year.

    The next phase of COVID-19 vaccination commenced on March 1 last year for people over 60 years of age and those aged 45 and above with specified co-morbid conditions. India launched vaccination for all people aged more than 45 years from April 1 last year.

    The government then decided to expand its vaccination drive by allowing everyone above 18 years of age to be inoculated against the viral disease from May 1 last year. The next phase of vaccination commenced on January 3 for adolescents in the age group of 15-18 years.

    India began administering precaution doses of vaccines to healthcare and frontline workers and those aged 60 and above with comorbidities from January 10. Precaution doses of COVID-19 vaccines to all aged above 18 years were allowed at private vaccination centres from April 10.

  • Millions of COVID vaccines unsold; stopped production since December 2021: Adar Poonawalla

    By PTI

    MUMBAI: The Serum Institute of India has stopped producing the COVID-19 vaccine since the last day of December 2021 as it has been sitting on millions of unsold vaccines after the vaccination momentum has ebbed, its chief executive officer Adar Poonawalla said on Friday.

    Poonawalla also warned against the return to “the business as usual” approach of the administration in the national capital, saying “we can’t afford to put a price tag on the life of a citizen” as the pandemic is “not behind us yet nor we know by when it will be”.

    He also called for speeding up the decision to vaccinate young kids and said if they can be given other immunisation vaccines why not for the COVID-19, the end of which nobody knows as of now.

    “Since the vaccine intake has been coming down, there has been a lot of unsold inventories with us. We stopped production on December 31, 2021. Currently, we are sitting on over 200 million doses. I have offered this to anyone willing to pick them up for free. But there hasn’t been a good response to that also. Seems there is vaccine fatigue among the people now as even after the price was slashed to Rs 225, there has been no major uptake,” Poonawalla said at the Times Network India Economic Conclave.

    Defending his call for lowering the gap between second and third doses to six months from nine months at present, he said it’s needed for one “we can’t put a price tag on the life of a person be it an adult or a child. Another important reason is that after six months the antibodies come down so it is better to go for the third dose within six months”.

    ALSO READ| Public complacency responsible for low uptake of booster dose of vaccines: Experts

    “This is something many studies have verified and therefore many foreign governments have made the booster dose mandatory. Already, many counties have made booster doses mandatory for travel. This means those who were vaccinated by August or September last will not be able to travel outside the country. Therefore, my suggestion to the government for six months gap for the third dose,” he said.

    On the need for vaccinating kids in the 5-11 age bracket, he said, “My point is we can’t put a price tag on the life of a person. Also if an additional dose of vaccine can prevent a 1,000 hospitalisation, so let’s do that as was evident from the third wave.”

    On the delays in decision making, Poonawalla rued that it seems the urgency is no longer there. Unfortunately for the key people who are supposed to be taking decisions on time, the committees supposed to be meeting on time, it seems there is no urgency any longer.

    “The momentum of the past that brought us so far here is lost. As you said it seems for them, it’s business as usual. That’s why there is no decision on the emergency use of Covovax is coming in. What is more surprising is that the same vaccine has been approved by the regulator long ago and have also been in use in many European nations and in Australia,” he said.

    However, Poonawalla quickly added that the government at the highest level is fully seized of the matter, but “yes at the ground level there seems the urgency is lost”.

  • Delhi, Bihar government to reimburse Centre for using COVID jabs as free precaution dose

    By PTI

    NEW DELHI: Delhi and Bihar, which have started administering free Covid precaution doses for the 18-59 year age group, have to reimburse the National Health Authority for using the available stock of jabs provided by the Union government for the purpose, official sources said Friday.

    Following requests from these two states, the Union Health Ministry has made a provision on the CoWIN portal for creating sessions to administer the precaution doses at government COVID vaccination centres, they said.

    They had sought permission from the ministry to use the available stock of COVID vaccine as precaution dose in government vaccination centres free of cost, saying they would reimburse or replenish the stock upon procurement.

    “The Union Health Ministry has agreed to their proposal…But they shall reimburse the cost of the vaccine used for the purpose to the National Health Authority,” an official source said. The Union government had announced that the precaution dose of anti-COVID19 vaccines will be available to everyone aged above 18 years at the private vaccination centres beginning April 10.

    The Delhi government had written to the Union Health Ministry, saying that the uptake of precaution doses at private COVID vaccination centres (CVCs) was not very promising.

    Delhi government’s Principal Secretary, Health, Manisha Saxena had said that to promote the uptake of precaution dose among the 18-59 years age group, the Government of NCT Delhi intends to administer precaution dose for this group in all government CVCs free of cost.

    “In order to give the benefit of precaution dose to all eligible beneficiaries in Delhi, the same will be available for 18 to 59 years age group, free of cost in all government CVCs from April 21,” the Delhi health department said in an order.

    Both online appointments and walk-in facility will be available, it added.

    Bihar’s Additional Chief Secretary (Health) Pratyaya Amrit, had told the Centre, “As the procurement of vaccines may take a few days, we request you to kindly allow the administration of the current stock of vaccines as precaution dose to 18 to 59 years age group which would be later replenished upon procurement by the state.”

    Vaccine majors Serum Institute of India (SII) and Bharat Biotech have decided to cut prices of the precaution dose of their respective COVID-19 vaccines to Rs 225 per shot for private hospitals after discussion with the government.

    The Centre had told the states that the precaution dose will be of the same COVID-19 vaccine like the one used for the administration of the first two doses and that private vaccination centres can charge up to a maximum of Rs 150 per dose as a service charge over and above the cost of the vaccine.

  • US FDA puts Covaxin’s second phase trials in US on hold after fallout on WHO’s observations

    By PTI

    HYDERABAD: The US Food and Drug Administration has put on hold the phase 2/3 clinical trials of Bharat Biotech’s COVID-19 vaccine Covaxin, in USA.

    According to a press release by Ocugen Inc , Bharat Biotech’s partner for US and Canada for Covaxin, the FDA’s decision was based on the US firm’s decision to voluntarily implement a temporary pause in dosing participants of the jab, following the World Health Organisation’s observations on Covaxin manufacturing plants in India.

    “This is a result of the company’s decision to voluntarily implement a temporary pause in dosing participants of OCU-002 while it evaluates statements made by the World Health Organization following their inspection of Bharat Biotech International Limited’s (BBIL) manufacturing facility,” Ocugen said on April 12.

    WHO had earlier suspended the supply of Covaxin through US procurement agencies, after its inspectors identified GMP (good manufacturing practice) deficiencies in the Bharat Biotech’s manufacturing plants.

    Sources had said the city-based firm however, said it had not supplied the Covid vaccine to any UN agency and no impact of the suspension would be felt. OCU-002 is Ocugen’s Phase 3 immuno-bridging study of Covaxin.

    The company said it will work with the FDA to address any questions. The FDA, in February, lifted its clinical hold on Ocugen’s Investigational New Drug application (IND) to evaluate the Covaxin.

    After WHO inspection, Bharat Biotech had said it is temporarily slowing down production of Covaxin across its manufacturing units for facility optimisation as it has already completed its supply obligations to procurement agencies and foresees decrease in demand.

    The company further said after the recent WHO post Emergency Use Listing (EUL) inspection, it is working on further improvements and upgrades to ensure that the production of Covaxin continues to meet ever increasing global regulatory requirements.

  • Over 9,500 precaution doses of COVID-19 vaccines given on April 10

    By PTI

    NEW DELHI: A total of 9,674 precaution doses of COVID-19 vaccines were administered in the 18-59 years age-group on the first day on Sunday taking the cumulative doses given in the country to 185.74 crore, the Union Health Ministry said.

    India on Sunday began administering precaution dose of COVID-19 vaccines to all aged above 18 years at private vaccination centres.

    All those above the age of 18 who have completed nine months after the administration of the second dose are eligible for the precaution dose.

    So far more than 2.22 crore (2,22,67,519) children in the age-group of 12-14 years have been administered with the first dose of COVID-19 vaccine, the ministry said on Monday.

    The Centre on Saturday told all states and UTs that the precaution dose will be of the same Covid vaccine which has been used for administration of first and second dose and that private vaccination centres can charge up to a maximum of Rs 150 per dose as service charge over and above the cost of the vaccine.

    States and UTs on Saturday were also informed that no fresh registrations would be required for precaution dose as all due beneficiaries are already registered on CoWIN.

    It was emphasized that all vaccinations must mandatorily be recorded of CoWIN platform and both the options of ‘Online appointment’ and ‘Walk-in’ registration and vaccination will be available at private Covid vaccination centres (CVCs).

    The Private CVCs will maintain the vaccination sites as per the guidelines issued earlier by the Ministry of Health.

    “They can charge up to a maximum of Rs 150 per dose as service charge for vaccination over and above the cost of vaccine,” Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan had said.

    “Administration of precaution dose will be homologous i.e. same vaccine type will be used for precaution dose which was used for vaccination of first and second dose,” he had stated.

    Healthcare workers, frontline workers and citizens aged 60 years and above, shall continue to receive precaution dose vaccination at any vaccination centres, including free of charge vaccination at Government Vaccination Centers, Bhushan had underlined.

    The countrywide vaccination drive was rolled out on January 16 last year with healthcare workers getting inoculated in the first phase.

    Vaccination of frontline workers started from February 2 last year.

    The next phase of COVID-19 vaccination commenced on March 1 last year for people over 60 years of age and those aged 45 and above with specified co-morbid conditions.

    India launched vaccination for all people aged more than 45 years from April 1 last year.

    The government then decided to expand its vaccination drive by allowing everyone above 18 years of age to be inoculated against the viral disease from May 1 last year.

    The next phase of vaccination commenced from January 3 for adolescents in the age group of 15-18 years.

    India began administering precaution doses of vaccines to healthcare and frontline workers and those aged 60 and above with comorbidities from January 10.

    The country began inoculating children aged 12-14 from March 16.

  • ‘Precaution dose to be of same Covid vaccine, private centres can levy up to Rs 150 as service charge’: Centre 

    By PTI

    NEW DELHI: The Centre on Saturday told the states that the precaution dose will be of the same COVID-19 vaccine as the one used for the administration of the first two doses and that private vaccination centres can charge up to a maximum of Rs 150 per dose as service charge over and above the cost of the vaccine.

    The Centre announced on Saturday that the precaution dose of Covid vaccines will be available to everyone aged above 18 years at the private vaccination centres from April 10.

    Based on inputs received from domain knowledge experts, govt has decided that precaution dose of Covid-19 will be available to 18+ population at prvt. Covid centres from Sunday @NewIndianXpress @TheMornStandard @mansukhmandviya @MoHFW_INDIA pic.twitter.com/3scNegvn3x
    — Kavita Bajeli-Datt (@KavitaDatt) April 9, 2022
    All those above the age of 18, who have completed nine months after the administration of the second dose, will be eligible for the precaution dose.

    Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan, who held an orientation meeting of the health secretaries of all the states and Union territories on Saturday, also informed that no fresh registration would be required for the precaution dose as all due beneficiaries are already registered on the CoWIN platform.

    It was emphasised that all vaccinations must mandatorily be recorded on CoWIN and both the options of “online appointment” and “walk-in” registration and vaccination will be available at the private Covid vaccination centres (CVCs).

    The private CVCs will maintain the vaccination sites in accordance with the guidelines issued earlier by the Union health ministry.

    “They can charge up to a maximum of Rs 150 per dose as service charge for vaccination over and above the cost of the vaccine,” Bhushan said.

    “Administration of precaution dose will be homologous — same vaccine type will be used for precaution dose which was used for vaccination of first and second dose,” he stated.

    Healthcare workers (HCWs), frontline workers (FLWs) and citizens aged 60 years and above shall continue to receive the precaution dose at the vaccination centres, including free vaccination at the government vaccination centres, Bhushan underlined.

    A detailed orientation of the state officials was done on various new provisions made on CoWIN for the expansion of the eligible population for the precaution dose and also for the correction of the vaccination certificates by citizens.

    The states were also advised to accelerate the administration of the ongoing free Covid vaccination with the first dose and the second dose to the population above 12 years of age and for optimal administration of the precaution dose for the HCWs, the FLWs and those aged 60 and above at the government CVCs.

    Additional Secretary (Health) Dr Manohar Agnani and other senior officers of the Union health ministry were present at the virtual meeting, along with the health secretaries, NHM mission directors and other officials from the states and Union territories.

  • Govt panel recommends inclusion of Covovax in national Covid vaccination drive for those aged 12 and above

    By PTI

    NEW DELHI: The COVID-19 Working Group of the NTAGI has recommended inclusion of the Serum Institute’s Covovax in the national vaccination programme for those aged 12 years and above, official sources said on Sunday.

    India’s drug regulator had approved Covovax for restricted use in emergency situations in adults on December 28 and in the 12-17 age group, subject to certain conditions, on March 9.

    The COVID-19 Working Group has now recommended to the Standing Technical Sub-Committee of the National Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation (NTAGI) that Covovax be included in the national vaccination programme for those aged 12 years and above, sources said.

    Serum Institute of India (SII) Director for Government and Regulatory Affairs Prakash Kumar Singh had written to the Union Health Ministry recently, requesting for Covovax’s inclusion in the immunisation drive.

    “A meeting of the COVID-19 Working Group of the NTAGI took place on April 1 during which data of Covovax was reviewed, after which it recommended that the vaccine can be included in the national COVID-19 vaccination programme for inoculating those aged 12 years and above,” one of the sources said.

    Singh had stated that the Pune-based firm wanted to provide Covovax to private hospitals at Rs 900 per dose plus GST and was waiting for directions to supply it to the Centre.

    However, the price of the vaccine for the government was not mentioned. India began inoculating children aged 12-14 from March 16. Biological E’s Corbevax is being used to inoculate them.

    In a letter to Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan, Singh was learnt to have said that private companies, educational institutes, social organisations, central government organisations and public sector undertakings were making requests for Covovax to inoculate their staffers, families and children.

    “Under the visionary leadership of our CEO Adar C Poonawalla, we have developed, manufactured and obtained emergency use authorisation from our national regulatory authority for one more world-class COVID-19 vaccine, Covovax, for 18 years and above on December 28, and for children in the age group of 12 to 17 years on March 9, 2022,” an official source quoted Singh as having written in the letter.

  • Second Covishield dose can be given between 8-16 weeks after first: NTAGI

    The NTAGI has not yet suggested any change in the schedule of Bharat Biotech's Covaxin, whose second dose is administered 28 days after the first dose.