News Analysis India

Tag: vaccination drive

  • Some leaders making irresponsible statements about Covid vaccination drive, says Harsh Vardhan

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan on Thursday alleged that various leaders were making “irresponsible statements” about the COVID-19 vaccination drive and requested them to desist from the “shameless urge to play politics” in the midst of a pandemic.

    Taking to Twitter he urged these leaders to spend “more energy in planning and not in creating panic”.

    “I’m seeing irresponsible statements from various leaders regarding the largest vaccination drive. Stating facts so that people can judge intentions of these leaders.

    “After GoI (Government of India) provided 75 per cent of vaccines available for free, vaccination speed picked up and 11.50 crore doses were given in June,” Vardhan said in a tweet.

    He said if there are issues in states, it shows that they need to plan their vaccination drives better.

    “Intra-state planning and logistics are the responsibility of the states.”

    “If these leaders are aware of these facts and are still making such statements, I consider it most unfortunate. If they don’t know, they need to focus on governance. Will again request state leaders to spend more energies in planning and not in creating panic,” he said in another tweet.

    According to Health Ministry’s inoculation data published at 7 am on Thursday cumulatively 33.

    57 crore vaccine doses have been administered so far under the Nationwide Vaccination Drive.

  • Over 50 countries interested in Co-WIN, India ready to share open source software free: Official

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: About 50 countries, including Canada, Mexico, Nigeria and Panama, have shown interest in having a Co-WIN like system to run their vaccination drive, a senior official said Monday, adding India is ready to share the open source software free of cost.

    Dr R S Sharma, the chairman of the empowered group for Covid-19 vaccine administration, said Prime Minister Narendra Modi has directed officials to create an open source version of the platform and give it free of cost to any country that wants it.

    “The Cowin platform has become so popular that as many as 50 countries from central Asia, Latin America, Africa all showed interest in having a Co-win like system,” Sharma said at the second Public Health Summit 2021 on ‘Emerging Imperatives in Strengthening Public Health for India’ organised by Confederation of Indian Industry.

    He also said a virtual global conclave of health and technology experts from across the world will be held on July 5 where India will share how this system works.

    “We are telling the world how this system can work and how we are ready to share an open source software with any country free of cost. There have been huge interests starting from Canada, Mexico, Panama, Peru, Azerbaijan, Ukraine, Nigeria, Uganda,” he said.

    Sources said other countries such as Vietnam, Iraq, Dominican Republic, the United Arab Emirates have also expressed interest in knowing about the Co-WIN platform for implementing it in their own countries to run their own Covid programmes.

    In five months, Sharma said, Co-WIN has grown to handling 30 crore plus registrations and vaccinations.

    “It is a citizen-centric platform and provides a single source of truth till the district level. From the beginning, it was ensured that the platform can be easily used to schedule, reschedule and cancel appointments,” he said.

    Sharma also said that vaccinating 1.3 billion people is not a “trivial task”, and added that the development of Cowin-like platform shows India has the capability to develop such great scalable digital systems.

    “People talked of digital divide in getting vaccine but from the beginning itself we ensured that it is very easy to get on the platform and schedule, reschedule or cancel an appointment and at the same time if that is not possible then you can call a centre and get it done and go to common service centres to get an appointment,” he said.

    “Most importantly you can go without any appointment to vaccination centre and get vaccinated. In fact, 80 per cent of our people have gone to the centre without any appointment,” he added.

    On the National Digital Health Mission (NDHM), Sharma said the whole idea is based on the concept that many services can be digitally delivered.

    The NDHM will house all kinds of databases which will have a facility for the patient to fetch his/her records, he said.

    “One of the silver linings of the Corona period is that we are at ease with digital consultation. The most important outcome of this is going to be generation of data for researchers and academic,” Sharma said.

    India has created digital artefacts such as Aadhar that will enable the delivery of services digitally, he said.

    One such digital products created is e-voucher which is person and purpose-specific and will be launched very soon, he said.

    “Under Ayushman Bharat, if a person wants to get an X-ray done and hospital does not have an X-ray facility, the hospital can issue a digital voucher which goes to the X-Ray diagnostic centre then the QR code is scanned and money is received and X-ray is performed. This voucher will be a game-changer,” he added.

    Delhi AIIMS Director Dr Randeep Guleria told the event that the pandemic has disrupted the healthcare ecosystem and public health infrastructure and has challenged resilience.

    “Now we need to look ahead and strengthen our public health system. We need to be prepared for such a pandemic in future. Our basic aim is to have equitable access in remote areas. Important to look at health as a percentage GDP and we should look at 2.5% of healthcare expenditure. Health is a state subject but currently there is a lack of co-ordination among states,” he said.

    Some challenges that need to be met are underinvestment as far as healthcare is concerned.

    Secondly, public health system should be driven by tech and data, he said.

    There is a need to provide tele-health and tele-diagnostics in rural parts of India and industry has an important role to play.

    Also there is a need for a robust electronic healthcare system, Dr Guleria said.

    “Third is the area of human resources; there is a need to increase doctor-patient and nurse-patient ratio and the last challenge is that of improving the infrastructure. There is also a need to strengthen the public-private partnership and different models can be looked at. CII is very well positioned to take this further,” Dr Guleria said.

  • 3.11 crore doses of Covaxin procured so far, 90 lakh doses expected in June: Centre

    Express News Service
    NEW DELHI: On a day Bharat Biotech said that the production cycle of Covaxin is 120 days, the Centre too issued a clarification saying that the company is supplying over 3.11 crore vaccine doses by May while 90 lakh additional doses are expected next month.

    It said that the current production capacity of Covaxin, which is 1 crore per month, will be doubled by May-June and then increased nearly 6-7 fold by July – August. It is expected to reach nearly 10 crore doses per month by September this year, the Union Health Ministry claimed in a statement.

    “Vaccine being a biological product of medical importance takes time for harvesting and quality testing,” said the government. “This cannot be done overnight to ensure a safe product.” 

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

    Thus, an increase in capacity of manufacturing too needs to be a guided process and an increase in gross production does not translate to immediate supply, the Centre maintained.

    Till Friday morning, as per the data shared, Bharat Biotech has supplied 2,76,66,860 vaccine doses to the Centre. Out of these, 2,20,89,880 doses including wastage, have been consumed by all states in the ongoing vaccination drive.

    With this, the balance of available doses of vaccine with states are 55,76,980 doses while private hospitals have also received 13,65,760 doses of Covaxin in the same month over and above what has been supplied to the governments at the Centre and the states, said the ministry.

    In May, additional 21,54,440 doses of Covaxin are to be supplied. “This takes the total vaccine supplied and in pipeline till date to 3,11,87,060 doses,” the statement said, adding that nearly 90 lakh doses are committed for June by the manufacturer.

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

    Express News Service
    NEW DELHI: Under fire for delayed availability of Covaxin for the vaccination drive, its manufacturer Bharat Biotech on Friday clarified that it takes about 120 days for one batch to complete the process of manufacturing, testing, and release.

    A batch, under production in March, for instance will be available for supply only in June. 

    The government has been claiming that nearly 2 crore doses of this vaccine is now being produced in India now but far lower numbers are available for vaccinating the beneficiaries.

    The break-up available on the vaccination dashboard run by the Centre shows that of total 20,43,91,365 Covid vaccine doses administered, only 22,107,737 or just about 10% has been that of Covaxin, country’s only indigenously developed coronavirus vaccine so far.

    “The timeline for manufacturing, testing and release for a batch of Covaxin is approximately 120 days, depending on the technology framework and regulatory guidelines to be met,” said Bharat Biotech in a statement.

    Thus, production batches of Covaxin that were initiated during March this year will be ready for supply only during the month of June.

    Shortage of Covid vaccines in India have been a major problem but scarcity of Covaxin has drawn even more attention, leading to calls for compulsory licensing to other companies to ramp up its production.

    The company, however, insisted that the manufacturing, testing, release and distribution of vaccines is a complex and multifactorial process with hundreds of steps and requiring a diverse pool of human resources.

    ALSO READ | Covid-19 vaccination exercise in India will be complete by December​, says Prakash Javadekar

    For vaccines to result in actual vaccination of people, highly coordinated efforts are required from international supply chains, manufacturers, regulators and state and Central government agencies, it said.

    Experts, meanwhile, said that the statement by Bharat Biotech may further heighten the confusion around vaccine availability rather than clearing the air.

    “The company is saying that it takes 120 days for the vaccine from production to release but how do we know how many doses were being produced in March and how many doses will be manufactured in June?” asked economist R Ramakumar.

    He added that in the context of this clarification, the claim by the government earlier that 10 crore doses of Covaxin could be produced from August-September, it will mean that that many doses per month will be available only December onwards.

    The company, on the other hand, maintained that production scale-up of vaccines is a step-by-step process, involving several regulatory SOPs of good manufacturing practices.

    The firm also said that all vaccines supplied in India are mandated by law to be submitted for testing and release to the Central Drugs Laboratory under the government and all batches of vaccines supplied to states are based on the allocation framework received from the Centre.

    The timeline for vaccine supplies to reach the depots of the state and Centre from Bharat Biotech’s facilities is around two days, the company said adding the vaccines received at these depots have to be further distributed by the state government to various districts within their respective states.

    “This requires an additional number of days. Pandemic vaccines are distributed by respective governments equitably across all sections of the population,” the company said.

  • COVID-19 vaccine can be given three months after recovery: Centre

    By Online Desk
    COVID-19 vaccine can be administered three months after a patient has recovered from the viral infection, the health ministry announced on Wednesday. 

    In another revision to vaccination terms, the goverment released a fresh set of guidelines based on the recommendations by National Expert Group on Vaccine Administration for COVID-19 (NEGVAC), on Wednesday. 

    #IndiaFightsCorona #LargestVaccineDriveNew Recommendations of NEGVAC accepted by @MoHFW_INDIA.#COVID19 vaccination to be deferred by 3 months after recovery from the illness. https://t.co/3fiCJGeO9J @PMOIndia @drharshvardhan @AshwiniKChoubey @PIB_India @mygovindia
    — Ministry of Health (@MoHFW_INDIA) May 19, 2021

    If a person is infected by coronavirus after having recieved the first dose of the vaccine, the second dose would be deferred by three months following the “clinical recovery from COVID-19 illness,” the Union Health Ministry shared today. 

    The government added that lactating women are advised to get the vaccine, and that no screening by Rapid Antigen Test is required for any vaccine recipients.

    Meanwhile, the vaccination for pregnant women is still being deliberated upon by the National Technical Advisory Group on Immunization (NTAGI), it said. 

    The communique has been sent to all the states and Union Territories, the centre said. 

    ALSO READ: Centre says Covid vaccine shots not 100 per cent efficacious

    The recommendations arrive when the country conducted more 20 lakh COVID-19 tests across the country in a span of 24 hours, which is a global record and the highest ever done in a single day. 

    Meanwhile, the daily positivity rate has declined to 13.31 per cent, the Union Health Ministry said.

    India’s COVID-19 daily recoveries exceeded the number of daily new cases for the sixth consecutive day.

    Cumulative recoveries have surged to 2,19,86,363 with 3,89,851 patients recuperating in a day.

  • COVID vaccination: Centre says 122 crore doses needed to inoculate 59 crore people in 18-45 age group

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: The Centre has told the Supreme Court that a total of 122 crore doses of COVID-19 vaccine would be required to vaccinate a population of 59 crores in the age group of 18 to 45 years.

    In an affidavit filed before the top court, the Centre said vaccination is the topmost priority of the government and all efforts are being made to achieve an objective of 100 percent vaccination in the shortest time possible keeping the available resources in mind and availability of vaccine doses into consideration.

    “It is submitted that considering the limited availability of two vaccines which are presently available in India namely Covaxin and Covisheild, it became incumbent upon the government to prioritise vaccination in the most scientific manner.”

    ALSO READ | Phase-3 vaccination: Over 86,000 received first dose on May 1

    “It is submitted that while prioritising vaccination the first priority was towards health workers. It is submitted that projected mid-year population for 2021 for the age group of 18 to 45 years is about 59 crore. To vaccinate this target, a total of 122 crore doses of COVID-19 vaccine would be required (which factors in some vaccine wastage which is inevitable),” the Centre said.

    Stating that the central government has already taken proactive steps for procurement of other vaccines apart from Covishield and Covaxin, the Centre told the apex court that it has fast-tracked the emergency approvals for foreign-produced COVID-19 Vaccines that have been granted approval in other countries.

    The government told the court that it has already granted a license to Sputnik V vaccine for restricted use in an emergency situation (emergency use authorization granted by European Union Agency) based on data from studies/clinical trials in Russia and other countries coupled with data from Phase II/III trials conducted in India by Dr.Reddy’s Laboratories.

    “It is submitted that as per estimates the availability of locally manufactured Sputnik V vaccine will start from July onwards.

    It is expected that locally manufactured Sputnik V vaccine will be available to the extent of 8 million and 16 million doses (for 4 million and 8 million individuals) for the months of July and August 2021 respectively.

    “It is further submitted that the Union of India has been in constant touch with Pfizer, Moderna, and J&J since mid- 2020 with the objective of encouraging these companies to develop/ supply/manufacture their respective vaccine through their local partners in India,” the Centre said.

    The top court on April 22 took note of the pandemic situation due to a sudden surge in COVID-19 cases and said it expected the Centre to come out with a “national plan” to deal with the distribution of essential services and supplies, including oxygen and drugs.

  • Centre clueless on rollout as major vaccination drive set to kick off

    Express News Service
    NEW DELHI: On the eve of a major Covid vaccination expansion launch in India, the Union Health Ministry appeared clueless on the initiative and said that the vaccines for the 18-44 age group may be available in states that have coordinated with vaccine manufacturers.

    It however evaded questions on vaccine stock availability for the month of May in India.

    “States are coordinating with the vaccine manufacturers. We feel that the vaccination policy will start from tomorrow as designed and will stabilise slowly,” said Luv Agarwal, joint secretary of Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare in a briefing on Covid status in India on Wednesday.

    He added that the Centre will continue to cover the vaccination cost of the 45+ age group while trying to boost the production of Covid vaccine doses and also said that coordination is underway with state governments and manufacturers.

    The statement by the Centre comes as several states including Delhi, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Punjab, Maharashtra, Telangana, Bihar, Assam Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand and Andhra Pradesh have expressed doubts that inoculation drive can open for 18 plus groups from Saturday.

    While the state governments continue to struggle for the procurement of Covid-19 vaccines, apart from Apollo hospitals, two other major chains of Corporate hospitals have procured the supplies for Saturday’s rollout.

    Max healthcare is set to make Covishield available at about Rs 800 per dose, which includes Rs 600 charged by the manufacturer and Rs 200 overhead costs. At Fortis hospitals, on the other hand, Covaxin will be available at Rs 1250 per dose which includes Rs 50 administrative charges and Rs 1200 per shot cost to the private hospitals.

    Owing to the massive vaccine shortage, many of these states have even expressed an inability, at least for a large number of vaccination centres, to continue vaccination for the priority group, those above 45 years, who have been eligible for the jabs from before.

    ALSO READ | With stocks running low, Tamil Nadu may not begin COVID vaccinations for 18-plus on May 1

    Serum Institute of India is currently producing 7 crore doses of Covishield every month while the manufacturing capacity of Bharat Biotech, the maker of Covaxin, is much lesser at about 1 crore doses. In India, an additional 58-59 crore people will now be eligible for vaccination from Saturday while a small percentage of 45 plus population — amounting to about 34 crore — has been covered so far. 

    Also, as the majority of vaccine doses, however, have been pre-booked by the Centre for May, very little stock might be available under the state and private hospital quota.

    The first batch of Sputnik V vaccine, developed by a health research agency in Russia and now approved in India, is set to arrive in India on Saturday but there is no clarity so far on its availability in states and private hospitals and the quantum of its stock.  

    Meanwhile, K Hariprasad, president of the hospitals division at Apollo group told this newspaper that the group has procured some stock of both Covaxin and Covishield, sufficient to last about a week at 400-500 shots per day, for 7 sites in India, but said it is waiting for CoWin portal to open for private hospitals.

    “Since the vaccination is opening tomorrow, we are expecting by late evening today when we can enter our details in the portal and 18 plus people can start booking their appointment,” he said.

    The group is planning to make the vaccine available at 7 sites which include Delhi, Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Chennai, Cochin, Bengaluru and Hyderabad.

  • Delhi LG Anil Baijal seeks report on COVID vaccination drive after GNCTD Act comes into force

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: Delhi Lieutenant Governor (LG) Anil Baijal sought a report from Chief Secretary Vijay Dev on Thursday on the city’s preparedness for the vaccination of people above 18 years of age against COVID-19, his first significant move since the GNCTD (Amendment) Act, 2021, which says the Delhi “government” means the LG, came into force.

    The provisions of the Act came into effect from April 27, according to a notification issued by the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA).

    Baijal’s office also created a Twitter handle — @RajNiwasDelhi — saying it will share official announcements, press releases, reactions and other useful information for the residents of the national capital.

    About the next phase of the vaccination drive, the Raj Niwas tweeted: “Hon’ble Lt Governor has sought a report from the Chief Secretary on the preparedness for the roll out of the vaccination program for people above 18 yrs of age.”

    In another tweet, the LG Secretariat said Baijal was not aware of the government’s recent order setting up a COVID care facility at a private hotel for judges, responding to Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MLA Rajesh Gupta’s April 27 tweet, in which he had alleged that the LG had set up the facility.

    “Leave apart taking the decision, Hon’ble Lt Governor was unaware of the order till much after its issue. That the Hon’ble CM Shri @ArvindKejriwal has also been tagged in the tweet, denigrating the Constitutional Office of Lt Governor is unfortunate,” the LG office tweeted.

    ALSO READ: Delhi doesn’t have vaccine doses for 18-44 age group, says Health minister Satyendar Jain

    Earlier this week, the government withdrew the order.

    The MHA notification issued on April 27 seals the primacy given to the LG, a nominee of the Centre, in the Act.

    The Delhi government will now have to take the LG’s permission before taking any action over the subjects that are under its domain.

    According to the legislation, the “government” in Delhi now means the “Lieutenant Governor”.

    “In exercise of the powers conferred by sub-section (2) of section 1 of the Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi (Amendment) Act, 2021 (15 of 2021), the central government hereby appoints April 27, 2021 as the date on which the provisions of the said Act shall come into force,” stated the notification signed by the Additional Secretary in the MHA, Govind Mohan.

    The Act has been notified at a time when the Centre and the Arvind Kejriwal-led Delhi government are under the spotlight over the handling of the pandemic and the subsequent scarcity of oxygen, hospital beds and essential medicines in the national capital.

    The Delhi High Court came down heavily on the AAP government on Tuesday over its “failure” to check black-marketing of oxygen cylinders and crucial medicines needed by COVID-19 patients.

    If the state cannot handle the situation, it will ask the Centre to take over gas re-filling units as it cannot let people die, the court said.

  • Maharashtra Congress to give nearly Rs 2 crore for COVID vaccination drive

    By PTI

    MUMBAI: The Maharashtra Congress on Thursday said it will donate nearly Rs 2 crore to the Chief Minister’s Relief Fund (CMRF) to contribute towards the free COVID-19 vaccination drive for people in the age group of 18 to 44.

    Speaking to reporters here, state Revenue Minister and senior Congress leader Balasaheb Thorat said he will donate a year’s salary, while other Congress MLAs will contribute a month’s salary to the CMRF.

    “My one year’s salary and a month’s salary of all Congress MLAs will be donated to the CMRF. This will come up to Rs 2 crore,” he said, adding that the Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee will also contribute Rs 5 lakh.

    Apart from this, the vaccination cost of 5,000 employees of Sangamner-based Amrut Group of Industries, which is headed by him, will be donated to the CMRF, the minister said.

    The COVID-19 crisis has taken a serious turn in the country and the state, he said.

    The best preventive measure against the virus is to vaccinate all citizens in a time-bound manner, Thorat said.

    Many vaccination campaigns were carried out during the Congress rule at the Centre, and the Congress government did not worry about profit or loss and gave free vaccines to people by prioritising their health, he said, accusing the Narendra Modi government of running away from its responsibility.

    The Maharashtra government on Wednesday announced its decision to inoculate citizens in the age group of 18 to 44 against COVID-19 for free at state-run vaccination centres.

    The state will have to bear an expenditure of Rs 6,500 crore to vaccinate 5.71 crore citizens in this age group.

  • First batch of Russia’s Sputnik V Covid vaccine to arrive in India on May 1

    Express News Service
    NEW DELHI: The first batch of Sputnik V, the Covid vaccine developed by Russia, is set to arrive in India on May 1, the Russian embassy in the country confirmed to The New Indian Express on Wednesday.

    “…According to Mr Kirill Dmitriev, CEO of the RDIF, the first batch of Sputnik V will be delivered to India on May 1, 2021,” said the Russian embassy in response to a query.

    “That is what we are proceeding from. Yet, don’t have any details on the number of doses,” it also said and added that the details on the stock of vaccine doses for India will be updated later.

    Sputnik V, based on human adenoviral vectors, is one of only three vaccines in the world, along with those by Pfizer and Moderna, with an efficacy of over 90% against SARS CoV 2 infection and was given regulatory approval or restricted use authorisation in India on April 12.

    The vaccine has been developed by the Gamaleya National Research Institute of Epidemiology and Microbiology and is supported by Russia’s sovereign wealth fund, RDIF.

    ALSO READ | Double masking or N95 mask must to keep mutant variants at bay

    The two-dose vaccine, which has to be administered 21 days apart, costs about $10 or Rs 750 per dose in the international market but sources said that talks are on between RDIF, its distribution partner in India, Dr Reddy’s Laboratories, and the Indian government on its pricing in the country.

    The Centre has hinted that this vaccine, apart from other foreign vaccines that get available in India in the future, may be available only in private hospitals where people will have to pay directly for them as per the new liberalised Covid vaccination policy under which all adults qualify for Covid vaccines. 

    Though no official response could be elicited from Dr Reddy’s on the development, its management has earlier said that the initial quantity of Sputnik V that will be supplied in India is set to be limited as they will be imported from Russia.

    However, RDIF’s manufacturing partners in India — at least four other companies apart from Dr Reddy’s — will start producing the jabs locally by July, after which the supplies are likely to be scaled up.

    The news on Sputnik V comes amid concerns that despite a frightening expansion of the Covid pandemic in India, the vaccination, mainly due to the shortage of Covishield and Covaxin, has not picked up the pace required to arrest the pace of the infectious disease.

    Health economist Rijo M John pointed out that daily average jabs continue to decline from 3.7 million per day to 2.5 million over the past 20 days.

    “There has been a 31% fall in the daily vaccination rate from its peak,” he said. “The country needs to administer at least 7.5 million jabs per day to fully vaccinate all eligible adult population by the end of this year.”

    As per the government figures, 16 crore vaccine doses of the two available vaccines have been supplied to the states so far, while 57,000 more doses are set to be dispatched within the next 3 days but those can be used only for vaccinating those above 45 years of age.