News Analysis India

Tag: Covishield

  • India requests EU member states to consider Covishield, Covaxin vaccines under Green passport scheme

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: As the European Union relaxes travel restrictions under its ‘Green Passport’ scheme, India has requested the members of the 27-nation grouping to individually consider allowing Indians who have taken Covishield and Covaxin vaccines to travel to Europe, sources said.

    The sources said India has requested the EU member nations to accept the vaccination certificate issued through the CoWIN portal.

    The European Union’s Digital COVID certificate framework to facilitate free movement during the COVID-19 pandemic is to come into effect on Thursday.

    Under this framework, persons who have taken vaccines authorised by the European Medicines Agency (EMA) will be exempted from travel restrictions within the EU.

    The individual member states have the flexibility to also accept vaccines that have been authorised at the national level or by the World Health Organisation.

    ALSO READ | Confident of getting EMA’s approval in a month for Covishield: Adar Poonawalla

    “We have requested EU member states to individually consider extending similar exemption to those persons who have taken COVID-19 vaccines in India, that is Covishield and Covaxin, and accept the vaccination certificate issued through the CoWIN portal,” said a source.

    The sources said the genuineness of such vaccination certification can be authenticated on the CoWIN portal.

    “We have also conveyed to EU member states that India will institute a reciprocal policy for recognition of the EU Digital Covid Certificate,” the source said.

    “Upon notification of Covishield and Covaxin for inclusion in the EU Digital Covid Certificate and recognition of Indian CoWIN vaccination certificates, Indian health authorities would reciprocally exempt the EU member state concerned for exemption from the mandatory quarantine of all those persons carrying EU digital COVID certificate,” the source said.

    There have been apprehensions in India that people who took Covishield and Covaxin jabs are unlikely to be eligible to travel to the European Union member states under its ‘Green Pass’ scheme.

    The EU Digital COVID certificate or ‘Green Pass’ will be mandatory to travel to European countries and the document will serve as proof that a person is vaccinated against COVID-19.

    An EU official on Tuesday said individual member states of the European Union will have the option to accept vaccines authorised by the World Health Organisation (WHO) like Covishield for obtaining the bloc’s digital COVID certificate.

    External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Tuesday took up the issue of inclusion of Covishield in the EU digital Covid certificate scheme during a meeting with Josep Borrell Fontelles, the High Representative of the European Union.

    The meeting took place on the sidelines of a G20 meeting in Italy.

    ALSO WATCH:

  • Confident of getting EMA’s approval in a month for Covishield: Adar Poonawalla

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: Vaccine major Serum Institute of India is confident of receiving approval from the European Medicines Agency (EMA) for its COVID-19 vaccine Covishield in a month, company’s chief executive officer Adar Poonawalla said on Wednesday.

    He also said the issue of vaccine passports should be on the basis of reciprocity between the countries.

    “The EMA is absolutely correct in asking us to apply, which we have through AstraZeneca, our partners, a month ago, and that process has to take its time.

    An approval process even with UK MHRA, WHO took its time and we have applied to the EMA,” Poonawalla said at India Global Forum 2021.

    “We are quite confident that in a month EMA will approve Covishield. There is no reason why not to, because it is based on AstraZeneca data and our product is identical to AstraZeneca more or less and it has been approved by WHO, UK MHRA. So it’s just a matter of time. It is not really going to hinder anything,” he added.

    ALSO READ | EU nations will have option to accept WHO authorised jabs like Covishield to issue green pass: Official

    But the reason why it was flagged is because if the issue is not addressed now, and when India gets off the red list and when citizens want to travel they should not be refused in a given country just because they have a Covishield certificate.

    On the issue of vaccine passports, Poonawalla said that it was a slightly different issue.

    “The issue with vaccine passports is slightly different.

    What I am trying to say is that let us take a manufacturer outside of India.

    Let’s say they have been approved by WHO and everyone in that country gets vaccinated taking that product and now when those citizens need to travel, what good is their vaccine certificate if it is not acknowledged and reciprocity is not there between the countries,” Poonawalla said.

    It is that level of reciprocity that is expected between all these nations, he added.

    On the issue of waiving of intellectual property rights on vaccines to increase the supply, Poonawalla said waiving of IP is perhaps not going to solve the immediate shortage of vaccines.

    However, it is a good strategy in the long term, to be prepared for future pandemics.

    Stating that it was difficult for the company to stop the export of Covishield as it had prior commitments, he however said Serum did it in the wake of the second wave of the pandemic hitting India.

    Decision of stopping the exports was particularly stressful, “because it was not just our partner AstraZeneca that needed vaccines for the other parts of the world, it was COVAX, it was other countries that we had commitments with, we had taken advance funding, we had to return some of that funding, and really explain to other world leaders as well that there was really no choice at that moment ,” Poonawalla said.

    We had to tell them that ,”we really had to support our nation at that moment for a few months and that we would get back to them,” he added.

    It was really difficult for everyone to digest that , but slowly as they realised what was going on in India everyone was really supportive and understanding, Poonawalla said.

    ALSO WATCH:

  • Serum Institute asks Centre to take up inclusion of Covishield in EU vaccination passport

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: Serum Institute of India (SII) has urged the government to take up inclusion of Covishield in the EU COVID-19 Vaccination Passport with the European Union and other countries, saying if not done it will affect students and business travellers, and disrupt the Indian and global economy.

    Only four vaccines — Comirnaty of Pfizer/BioNTech, Moderna, Vaxzervria by AstraZeneca-Oxford and, Johnson & Johnson’s Janssen — have been approved by the European Medicines Agency (EMA).

    Only those inoculated with these vaccines will be given vaccination passports and allowed to travel within the EU during the pandemic.

    ALSO READ | EU’s denial to include Covishield in ‘green pass’ discriminatory: Experts

    “India has a large population. However, not including Covishield in the EU COVID-19 Vaccination Passport will not allow Covishield vaccinated people to travel to European countries and this will affect students, business travellers back and forth, and cause severe disruptions to our economy and to the global economy,” a source quoted Adar C Poonawalla, CEO of SII, as having communicated in a letter to External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar.

    Sources said referring to Poonawalla’s letter, the Director of Government and Regulatory Affairs at SII, Prakash Kumar Singh, has also sought Jaishankar’s intervention at the highest level.

    “It will be in the national interest as well as in the interest of people at large globally if Covishield vaccine is included in the EU COVID-19 Vaccination Passport,” Singh said.

    Poonawalla, in his letter, is learnt to have mentioned that nearly 30 crore people have already been vaccinated with Covishield in India and it is expected that more than 50 per cent of Indian population will be protected with this vaccine finally.

    The letter also mentions that AstraZeneca-SII Covishield has been manufactured under technology transfer from Oxford/AstraZeneca and that clinical trials of the vaccine have been conducted successfully abroad and has been approved by MHRA for emergency use approval.

    Poonawalla on Monday said he has taken up the issues faced by Indians who have taken the Covishield jab travelling to the European Union at highest levels and hopes to resolve them soon.

    “I realise that a lot of Indians who have taken Covishield are facing issues with travel to the EU, I assure everyone, I have taken this up at the highest levels and hope to resolve this matter soon, both with regulators and at a diplomatic level with countries,” Poonawalla said in a tweet.

    However, people familiar with the issue said SII is yet to approach European Medicines Agency for approval.

    So the Ministry of External Affair’s intervention at this stage is not on the table, they said.

    The larger issue of vaccine cooperation may figure in Jaishankar’s talks with EU officials on the sidelines of G20 foreign ministers meeting in Italy on Tuesday, sources said.

    WATCH DOCUMENTARY:

  • EU’s denial to include Covishield in ‘green pass’ discriminatory: Experts

    By Express News Service
    NEW DELHI: A move by the European Union to deny a “green pass” to the recipients of Covishield, manufactured by the Serum Institute of India for travel to EU countries has been termed “discriminatory” by scientists and experts in India.  

    There is practically no difference between the Covid vaccines made by AstraZeneca, the original licence holder of the vaccine, and Covishield, they pointed out. 

    Europe’s new ‘vaccine passport’ programme, which recognises a few vaccines whose recipients will be able to travel in and out of Europe with fewer roadblocks than others, includes the AstraZeneca vaccine, called Vaxzevria outside India but not India’s Covishield. 

    The Covid19 vaccine by Oxford University-AstraZeneca is produced mainly by three companies, SII, SK Biosciences in South Korea and AstraZeneca’s four manufacturing units. 

    This vaccine is made from a virus — ChAdOx1 — a weakened version of a common cold virus, adenovirus while the spike glycoprotein from SARS-CoV-2 has been added to it. The components, as well as the manufacturing process, are exactly the same in the case of both Covishield and Vaxzevria and it is for this reason that specialists in the country are finding EU decision unpalatable. 

    ALSO READ | Second Covid wave deadlier, fatalities higher in younger patients: Study

    “In my view, this decision is clearly discriminatory and without any plausible explanation on why the same vaccine produced in two different countries is being treated differently,” said Chandrakant Lahariya, health systems and vaccine expert.   

    Senior virologist and vaccinologist Shahid Jameel, director with the Trivedi School of Biosciences, Ashoka University too said that the AstraZeneca shot and Covishield are the same vaccines, made using the same seed stock of virus and the same manufacturing process. 

    “The only difference is that they are made at two different locations and I really don’t know the basis for this decision,” he told The New Indian Express. 

    He pointed out that the US FDA inspects factories and all processes for products exported to the US market and maybe it could be the same issue based on which the EU decision would have been taken. 

    Virologist Gagandeep Kang, associated with the Christian Medical College, Vellore said there seemed no reason for this denial to include Covishield in the “green pass” category, except that “it is not approved for use in an EU country”. 

    Lahariya meanwhile questioned the basis of the concept of vaccine passport saying that allowing travellers on the basis of their vaccination status and insistence on certain vaccines were not right, particularly as access to vaccines has emerged as a major challenge for the low- and middle-income countries. 

    “Also, this issue is still being discussed at the international level therefore it is not appropriate to rush for a decision like this,” he said.

  • Hope to resolve issues faced by Indians vaccinated with Covishield travelling to EU soon: Poonawalla

    I have taken this up at the highest levels and hope to resolve this matter soon, both with regulators and at a diplomatic level with countries, Poonawalla said in a tweet.

  • Despite claims of ramping up manufacturing, Covaxin laggard in vaccine pool, shows affidavit

    Express News Service
    NEW DELHI:  In sharp contrast to the claims of Bharat Biotech on ramping up Covaxin’s production, only about 2.8 crore of its doses had been made available for the ongoing vaccination drive till June 12. This information was part of the 380-page affidavit the Union health and family welfare ministry filed in the Supreme Court on Saturday. 

    Of the over 32 crore vaccine doses administered so far, the share of Covishield, produced by Serum Institute of India, is more than 90%. The latest revelation on Covaxin’s low availability indicates the Hyderabad-based vaccine maker has been able to supply only about 50 lakh doses per month so far even though it has been claiming that it is constantly scaling up its manufacturing capacity and had reached 2 crore per month capacity in May. 

    The Centre issued purchase orders for 8 crore Covaxin doses till July this year in three instalments but the company after supplying the initial order of 1 crore doses over 2 months, was yet to supply 18,36,840 doses of the 2-crore order placed for March-May, as on June 12. 

    Despite the massive delays, the Centre went ahead and paid an advance amount for 5 crore Covaxin doses between May and July, the affidavit shows. Further, on June 4, the government paid the firm 30% of the total costs for 27 crore doses of Covaxin, at the rate of Rs 150 per dose, for supplies between August and December.

    The ministry in April had said that Bharat Biotech will produce 2 crore doses a month by May-June and 6-7 crore in July-August, though its capacity that month was 1 crore. A request to Bharat Biotech seeking its response on the slow supplies of Covaxin, has remained unanswered so far. 

    Meanwhile, the affidavit, scaled down the projected August-December availability of vaccines to 1.35 billion doses from 2.16 billion. It includes 50 crore doses of Covishield and 30 crore doses of Biological E’s candidate, which is yet to complete phase 3 trial. 

    Covishield dose gap cut for students going abroadThe Centre also told the SC that it has relaxed the 12-16 weeks time interval for the second dose of Covishield for athletes bound for Olympics, students undertaking foreign travel for education and persons working abroad

  • Serum Institute of India produces over 10 crore doses of Covishield in June

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: Fulfilling its commitment, Serum Institute of India has produced over 10 crore doses of its COVID-19 vaccine Covishield in June so far as India ramps up the pace of its vaccination drive in the face of a possible third wave of the viral infection.

    India’s COVID-19 inoculation drive has picked up pace under the new phase of universalisation of COVID-19 vaccination that commenced on June 21 with around 69 lakh vaccine doses being administered on an average daily in the last six days.

    The immunisation data published at 7 am on Sunday showed that India administered 64.25 lakh vaccine doses in a day, taking the cumulative number of jabs given so far under the nationwide inoculation drive to 32.17 crore.

    According to information provided to the Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) by the Pune-based Serum Institute of India, it has sent 45 batches of Covishield, amounting to 10.80 crore doses, to the Central Drugs Laboratory, Kasauli for release in June so far.

    The firm’s Director at Government and Regulatory Affairs, Prakash Kumar Singh, had in May communicated to Union Home Minister Amit Shah that Covishield production would be ramped up to 10 crore doses in June.

    “We are committed to enhancing the production capacity of our Covishield vaccine and have been working round-the-clock in spite of various challenges being faced by us because of COVID-19 pandemic.

    “We are pleased to inform that in the month of June we will be able to manufacture and supply nine to 10 crore doses of our Covishield vaccine to our country as compared to our present production capacity of 6.5 crore doses in May,” Singh had said in a communication to Shah.

    The nationwide vaccination drive has been ramped up through availability of more vaccines, advance visibility of vaccine availability to states and Union Territories enabling them to plan better, streamlining the vaccine supply chain, according to the Health Ministry.

    Under the revised guidelines, vaccine doses are provided free of cost by the Centre and are allocated to states and Union Territories based on criteria such as population, disease burden and the progress of vaccination.

    The Centre procures 75 per cent of the vaccines being produced in the country.

    All above the age of 18 years are eligible for free vaccine doses.

    The Centre had earlier allowed states and private hospitals to procure 50 per cent of the vaccines following demands for decentralisation of the process.

    However, after several states complained of problems including funding, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced the revised vaccine guidelines.

    In order to incentivise production and encourage new vaccines, domestic manufacturers are given the option to provide vaccines directly to private hospitals.

    This is restricted to 25 per cent of their monthly production under the new guidelines.

  • Time interval for second Covishield dose for Indian contingent in Tokyo Olympics relaxed: Centre to SC

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: The Centre has told the Supreme Court that the athletes, sportspersons and accompanying staff of the Indian contingent attending the Tokyo Olympics, students undertaking foreign travel for education and persons working abroad will be administered the second dose of the Covishield vaccine prior to the prescribed time interval (after 28 days but before 84 days).

    Presently, based on the recommendations of the National Expert Group on Vaccine Administration for COVID-19 (NÉGVAC), the schedule of Covishield under the National COVID-19 Vaccination Strategy is to administer the second dose at an interval of 12-16 weeks (after 84 days) from the date of administration of the first dose.

    In a 380-page affidavit filed in the Supreme Court on Saturday in a suo motu matter on Covid management, the Centre has said the health ministry has received several representations from students as well as states such as Kerala regarding relaxations for the administration of the second dose of Covishield before the currently stipulated 84-day interval for students going abroad for higher studies.

    On May 31, the top court had slammed the Centre’s Covid vaccination policy, saying it is “prima facie arbitrary and irrational” to allow the states and private hospitals to charge those in the 18-44 age group while the jabs were offered for free in the first two phases of the nationwide inoculation drive, and ordered its review.

    In the affidavit, the Centre said, “The various representations request for allowing the administration of the second dose of Covishield for such persons who have only taken the first dose and are seeking to undertake international travel for educational purposes or employment opportunities or as part of India’s contingent for the Tokyo Olympic games, but whose planned travel dates fall prior to the completion of the currently mandated minimum interval of 84 days from the date of the first dose.”

    The Centre said the matter was taken up at a meeting of the Empowered Group-5 (EG-5) on Covid vaccination, “which has recommended administration of second dose of Covishield prior to the prescribed time interval (after 28 days but before 84 days) to provide full coverage of vaccination and facilitating international travel”.

    It said this special dispensation will be available to “students who have to undertake foreign travel for the purposes of education, persons who have to take up jobs in foreign countries and athletes, sportspersons and accompanying staff of the Indian contingent attending the Olympic games to be held in Tokyo”.

    The Centre submitted that the time interval between the two doses of Covishield under the vaccination drive has undergone a series of revisions based on the available and emerging scientific evidence under the overall guidance of the NEGVAC.

    “From four weeks at the start of the vaccination drive to a gap of six to eight weeks, currently, the interval between the first and the second dose of Covishield is 12-16 weeks in view of the emerging evidence documenting higher seroconversion and protection offered at a longer dose interval,” it said.

    The Centre further said that the matter was discussed by the National Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation (NTAGI), which recommended increasing the interval between the two doses of Covishield to 12-16 weeks.

    It said the requisite facility on the Co-WIN portal for the administration of the second dose in such exceptional cases will be made available shortly and a separate standard operating procedure (SOP) has been issued for the administration of the second dose of Covishield prior to the prescribed time interval.

    In the SOP, the Centre has advised that vaccination may be availed in such cases through the passport, which is one of the permissible ID documents according to the current guidelines, so that the passport number is printed on the vaccination certificate.

    “However, if passport was not used at the time of administration of the first dose, the details of the photo ID card used for vaccination will be printed on the vaccination certificate and a mention of the passport in the vaccination certificate is not to be insisted upon,” it has said.

    It has further said that wherever necessary, the competent authority may issue another certificate linking the vaccination certificate with the beneficiary’s passport number.

    “This facility shall be available to those who need to undertake international travel for these specified purposes in the period up to August 31,” it said.

    “This is to clarify that these SOPs have been issued specifically for Covishield because only the time interval between the two doses of Covishield has been increased from six-eight weeks to 12-16 weeks. The period for Covaxin has remained the same i.e four-six weeks and hence, there was no need for any special dispensation for the second dose of Covaxin. It is also clarified that complete vaccination with Covaxin is also sufficient for foreign travel,” the government has said.

    With regard to the vaccination of crematorium and panchayat workers, the Centre submitted that crematorium workers (regardless of their employment status of being permanent, contractual, outsourced or manpower working with a contractor with or without any designation), who are engaged in working in cremation grounds, and panchayat workers in rural areas involved in Covid control activities are already included in the “municipal workers group” under the “frontline workers category”.

  • For now domestic population first priority: India on vaccine export as inoculation drive gathers pace

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: India on Thursday said its stand on COVID-19 vaccine exports has been that it would depend on its domestic needs and asserted that right now the priority remains utilising made-in-India jabs for its own inoculation drive.

    The assertion by Ministry of External Affairs Spokesperson Arindam Bagchi came at an online media briefing in response to queries on media reports on possible exports of vaccines from India to Bangladesh.

    “Our position on the issue of vaccine exports has been consistent and clear. We have always stated that overseas supply of vaccines from India would depend on vaccine availability and our domestic vaccination programme,” Bagchi said.

    “For the moment our priority remains on utilising made-in-India vaccines for our own vaccination programme which as you know has received a boost with the new phase of vaccination that was launched earlier this week on June 21,” he said.

    Bagchi said India is also making efforts to further increase its domestic vaccine production.

    Asked when would Pfizer’s vaccine be available in India, the MEA spokesperson emphasised that the government of India is making all efforts to augment vaccine availability in the country be it through domestic production or imports.

    “As regards the specific vaccines and the status of their imports into India, this is a matter for the concerned regulatory authorities,” he added.

    Bagchi also said India hopes that as the Covid situation in the country continues to improve, other nations would take steps to normalize travel with India.

    “We have seen some initial steps in this regard. The government will continue to prioritise this issue,” he said.

    To a separate question on emergency use authorisation for Covaxin from the World Health Organization (WHO), the MEA spokesperson said, “We are closely following the developments regarding efforts by Bharat Biotech to obtain emergency use listing authorisation from the WHO.

    ” Asked which countries have shown interest in using or adapting the CoWin application, the digital platform that helped India launch and implement a nationwide COVID-19 vaccination programme, Bagchi pointed out that during his intervention at the recent G-7 meeting, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had offered to share India’s experience and expertise in the successful use of open source digital tools in contact tracing and vaccine management.

    “In pursuance of this, the National Health Authority proposes to organise an event with partner countries across the world to share details of the indigenously developed CoWin app, which has been at the centre of our vaccination drive,” he said.

    “We will provide further updates once the details of the event have been firmed up,” Bagchi added.

    Asked about the Ebrahim Raisi being elected as the president of Iran, sanctions by the US and the situation in bilateral ties, he said India has been closely monitoring the recent developments regarding Iran and its conversations with other countries.

    “We will continue to look at this closely. I don’t have an immediate response on that, we have seen some positive sentiments. We will continue to see how these progress,” Bagchi said.

    He also highlighted the congratulatory messages from the Indian leadership to the newly elected Iranian president.

    Asked when would India host the BRICS Summit this year, Bagchi said he does not have any update regarding the proposed dates for the summit as yet.

    On a proposal of India and South Africa for a temporary waiver of certain intellectual property rights provisions in the TRIPS Agreement to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic, Bagchi said talks are on with many countries at various levels, but added that for details, the Commerce Ministry should be contacted.

    In October 2020, India and South Africa had submitted the first proposal suggesting a waiver for all WTO members on the implementation of certain provisions of the TRIPS Agreement in relation to the prevention, containment or treatment of COVID-19.

    In May, a revised proposal was submitted by 62 co-sponsors, including India, South Africa and Indonesia.

    The agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights or TRIPS came into effect in January 1995.

    It is a multilateral agreement on intellectual property (IP) rights such as copyright, industrial designs, patents and protection of undisclosed information or trade secrets.

    India’s cumulative COVID-19 vaccination coverage has crossed 30.72 crore as per a provisional report till 7 pm on Thursday, the Union Health Ministry said here.

    According to the report, the total count was 30,72,46,600, it stated.

    As the new phase of universalisation of COVID-19 vaccination commenced from June 21, more than 54.07 lakh vaccine doses were administered on Thursday, as per the 7 pm provisional report.

    It said 35,44,209 first vaccine doses and 67,627 second doses were given in the 18-44 years category on Thursday.

    Cumulatively, 7,43,45,835 people in this group across 37 states and union territories have received their first dose and 15,70,839 have received their second dose since the start of phase-3 of the vaccination drive, the report showed.

    Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Delhi, Gujarat, Haryana, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Odisha, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal have administered more than 10 lakh beneficiaries of the 18-44 years age group the first dose of COVID-19 vaccine, the ministry said in its statement.

  • Hospital stay, ICU need, treatment cost lower for those vaccinated against Covid-19, finds study

    Express News Service
    NEW DELHI: Those vaccinated against Covid-19 have a significant advantage when it comes to average duration of hospital stay, ICU requirement, treatment cost and mortality — even if they needed hospitalization — as compared to those without jabs, a first-of-its-kind study from India has shown.

    A retrospective research carried out by Star Health insurance among 3,820 patients with its health insurance policies who landed up in 1,104 hospitals across the country in March and April says while the mean stay in hospital was 7 days for the unvaccinated, it was 4.9 days for those who were vaccinated.

    Among 3,820 patients with Covid-19, 3301 or about 86.4 % were unvaccinated while 519 or 13.6% were vaccinated.

    The findings showed that among the unvaccinated population 8.8% required ICU and this was lesser — 6% — among the vaccinated and the need for ICU was further lesser at 3 % after two doses of the vaccines.

    Among those who received two doses of vaccination there was a 66% relative risk reduction in ICU stay and 81% relative risk reduction in mortality, the paper noted, adding that even among those with comorbidities, a single dose was able to significantly reduce average length of hospitalization and treatment expenses.

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    The mortality among unvaccinated patients was 0.5% while there was no mortality among the vaccinated.

    Also, while the mean total hospital expense among the unvaccinated was Rs 2,77,850, it was Rs 2,17,850 or about 22% lesser for those who caught the infection at least 14 days after the second dose of vaccination.

    Dr S Prakash, managing director of the insurance firm which has handled more than 3 lakh Covid-related claims during the pandemic so far, said that the study was aimed at understanding in exact terms what benefit vaccination offered for patients, the healthcare industry and the country as a whole.

    “The point that needs to be highlighted is that this is a first-of-its-kind study from a health insurance company in India done on a nationwide basis during the early period of vaccination in March and April,” he noted.   

    His co-author and joint vice president of the company Dr Madhumati Ramakrishnan said: “Those who took the vaccine had a clear advantage over the non vaccinated as there was a significant difference in terms of parameters like hospital stay, need for ICU, cost of treatment and death due to infection.”

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    Highlighting the results, their paper said that these findings may be used in motivating the public and promoting the vaccination drive. The research paper also stressed that its coverage of pan-India data from a health insurance point of view was unique and analyzed not only the medical benefits but also the financial implications. 

    “This may pave way in educating and motivating the public regarding the role of vaccination in reducing morbidity, mortality and hospital expenses,” the authors noted.