
Covid 19 Vaccination in India: India has vaccinated more than 630,000 lakh frontline workers against COVID-19 even as the world’s largest Covid vaccination drive enters the fifth day. So far nine cases of hospitalisations have been confirmed by the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. Meanwhile, the United Nations has lauded India’s vaccination drive against the highly contagious Coronavirus.
India has begun the world’s biggest COVID vaccination campaign so far, deploying hundreds of thousands of health workers, with the training and support of the United Nations and World Health Organization, the UN said. The global body said that on January 16, the first day of the campaign, witnessed 2,07,229 vaccine shots were administered across the country, the UN said.
Total cases of nine adverse events following immunization (AEFI) have required hospitalisation. In Delhi, three cases have been discharged whereas one case is under observation at Rajiv Gandhi Hospital in Shahdara. One more AEFI case from Uttarakhand has been discharged. In Karnataka, one person was discharged and another person is stable and under observation at the District Hospital in Chitradurga. In Chhattisgarh also, one person has been discharged. In Rajasthan, one case is of suspected anaphylaxis is fine and under observation at District Hospital in Bangar. Though there were some delays in vaccination drive in some centres due to glitches reported in the CoWIN app in various parts of the country, the rollout has been smooth so far, according to the Union Health Ministry.
Highlights
Italy's virus czar is pressing ahead with plans to take legal action against Pfizer after the US pharmaceutical company announced delays in delivering pre-ordered COVID-19 vaccines to Europe. (AP)
Apex medical body IMA on Wednesday expressed concern over not all pre-registered beneficiaries turning up for receiving COVID-19 vaccines and suggested the Madhya Pradesh government to allow inoculation of people interested in getting doses. (PTI)
Only 335 out of 1,000 targeted beneficiaries have taken the COVID-19 vaccine shots in Maharashtra’s Aurangabad district on the second day of the immunisation drive, officials here said on Wednesday. (PTI)
Around 30 disability rights organisations have written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Health Minister Harsh Vardhan urging them to accord priority to persons with disabilities for COVID-19 vaccination. (PTI)
A healthcare worker in Telangana, who received COVID-19 vaccination, dies after complaining of chest pain; preliminary findings suggest death is unrelated to the vaccination: Official
Maldives is happy to receive as grant 100,000 doses of Covishield vaccine. Maldives is among the first countries to receive vaccines from India. As always, India stands strong & steadfast, by our side, as 1st responder in any crisis: Maldives Foreign Minister Abdulla Shahid (ANI)
Some coronaviruses - the family of viruses which includes the one causing COVID-19 -- can evolve to escape recognition by the host immune system, according to a new study which raises questions about the long-term effectiveness of vaccines to curb the ongoing pandemic. (PTI)
The COVID-19 vaccine developed by Pfizer and BioNTech is likely to protect against a more infectious variant of the virus, which was discovered in Britain and has spread around the world, according to results of further lab tests released on Wednesday. READ MORE
A nasal COVID-19 vaccine will be easy to be give to school-going children who bear a “very mild” load of the disease but they are infectious, AIIMS Director Randeep Guleria said on Wednesday. (PTI)
Jammu and Kashmir LG Manoj Sinha on Wednesday said that there's a need to spread awareness about COVID-19 vaccines. "Both vaccines were given emergency use approval by the DCGA only after the scientists were convinced of their safety. Appeal to all beneficiaries to get themselves vaccinated," he said
External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said that Indian vaccines reached Maldives on Wednesday. Jaishankar said that it 'reflects our special friendship.'
School & Mass Education Dept has issued an official notification asking private schools to implement the school fees waiver for the period of COVID-19 lockdown. The notification comes following the ruling of the Orissa High Court in regard to the waiver of school fees on January 7th.
Bhutan's first consignment of COVID-19 vaccine from India reached in Paro valley in an An-32 aircraft. Health Minister Dechen Wangmo will receive vaccines from Indian Ambassador Ruchira Kamboj in presence of PM Dr Lotay Tshering in a modest ceremony.
Wadia Group-owned no-frills airline GoAir has airlifted 15,91,000 doses of COVID-19 vaccine to various destinations from Mumbai, Pune and Chennai on Wednesday in the second phase of vaccine transportation amid the on-going inoculation drive in the country. (PTI)
The Union Health Ministry on Wednesday said that India's COVID-19 active caseload has fallen below the 2-lakh mark after nearly 7 months.
A consignment of 18,000 vaccine doses against COVID-19 reached Goa by a flight from Mumbai and the immunisation drive in the state will resume from Friday, reported PTI.
Nepal Health Minister Hridayesh Tripathi on Wednesday said that India will provide one million dosages of Covid-19 vaccine to Nepal. He says the vaccine will land in Kathmandu on Thursday, as reported by ANI.
The number of active Covid-19 cases in India on Wednesday dropped below the 2-lakh mark--the lowest after 207 days. India has one of the lowest daily new confirmed Covid-19 cases per million population in the last seven days, said the Union Health Ministry. Under the Covid-19 vaccination drive, as many 6,74,835 frontline workers, mostly from the healthcare, have received Covid shots so far, according to the Health Ministry.
Telangana, amidst the vaccination drive against COVID-19 infection, has reported 77 cases where healthcare workers suffered adverse effects of the vaccination. It is to note that close to 70,000 healthcare workers received the vaccine shot in Telangana in the last three days. READ MORE
As India launched the world’s largest COVID-19 vaccination drive, several UN agencies are working closely with authorities for the massive vaccination programme, a spokesperson for the UN chief has said. READ MORE
The flight, carrying the first consignment of 1 lakh dosages of Covishield vaccine to Malé in the Maldives, departs from Mumbai's Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport, according to ANI report. The vaccines are manufactured by Serum Institute of India at its Pune facility.
A government-developed digital platform, CoWIN is supposed to aid in smooth carrying out of the vaccination drive. However, the app has some glitches, and incidents from some districts in Maharashtra showed that it was working slowly and taking a lot of time to upload the data of the recipients on the second day of vaccination in the state. READ MORE
According to the research, published in the peer-reviewed journal mBio, the ability to track SARS-CoV-2 mutations in wastewater could be particularly useful for tracking new variants like the B.1.17 strain which is now widespread in the UK and has already been introduced in several countries, including India. READ MORE
In Maharashtra, one of the worst-hit states due to the Covid-19 pandemic, around 54% of beneficiaries received vaccination against the deadly virus on Tuesday. "It not up to the mark but it is not unsatisfactory also. There is a technical problem with CoWIN app which is being rectified. This issue will be resolved in a day or two," said Maharashtra Health Minister Rajesh Tope, as reported by ANI.
In Delhi's three main hospitals – AIIMS, RML and Safdarjung, the turnout of healthcare workers for getting the vaccine shot against the novel Coronavirus has been low. This led to the vaccination drive in Delhi remain on the slower lane. In the first three days of the vaccination drive, only 158 workers have been vaccinated at AIIMS, followed by 127 workers at RML and 122 staff members at Safdarjung. READ MORE
India has started sending Covid-19 vaccines to neighbouring countries to help them fight the prevalent Coronavirus pandemic. Read More
Covid-19 vaccination drive: Odisha received the second consignment of Covid-19 vaccine Covishield from the Serum Institute of India, who is manufacturing the vaccine developed by Oxford-AstraZeneca. According to the state health department, the consignment has reached Bhubaneswar on Tuesday. The vaccine consignment is stored in the State Vaccine Centre for safekeeping; and subsequently, vaccines will be dispatched to districts to the rollout first phase of immunisation drive.
As many as 14,883 health workers received vaccine in the first phase of the Covid-19 vaccination drive, according to state health department.
India has reported 13,823 new COVID-19 cases, 16,988 discharges and 162 deaths in last 24 hours, according to data provided by Union Health Ministry. Total cases of Coronavirus in the country stood at 1,05,95,660, active cases are 1,97,201, total discharges are 1,02,45,741 and the death toll is 1,52,718, as per ANI report. READ MORE