Budget 2018-19

  Hunting for variants requires a concerted effort. South Africa and the UK were the first big countries to implement nationwide genomic surveillance efforts for SARS-CoV-2 as early as April 2020. Since early in the COVID pandemic, the Network for Genomics Surveillance in South Africa has been monitoring changes in SARS-CoV-2. This was a valuable tool to understand better how the virus spread. In late 2020, the network detected a new virus lineage, 501Y. V2, which later became known as the beta variant. Now a new SARS-CoV-2 variant has been identified – B.1.1.529. The World Health Organisation has declared it a variant of concern, and assigned it the name  Omicron . To help us understand more, The Conversation Africa’s Ozayr Patel asked scientists to share what they know. What’s the science behind the search? Hunting for variants requires a concerted effort. South Africa and the UK were the first big countries to implement nationwide genomic surveillance efforts for  SARS...

  Experts say more real-world studies are required now Bharat Biotech has updated the efficacy of Covaxin to 65.2% against the  De lta variant  in – Effectiveness Study on Delta Variant – Lancet Infectious Diseases, published on Nov 23 2021. “Bharat Biotech commends the investigators from the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) on the BBV152 study published in Lancet Infectious Diseases. These results provide evidence for effectiveness for Covaxin in real life settings,” Bharat Biotech said. It added that an effectiveness result of 50% achieved during the peak Covid-19 Delta variant wave in India, in a high risk study population of physicians and health care workers, in a hospital environment, and who are challenged repeatedly with high viral loads, provides insights into the efficacy and effectiveness of Covaxin.. “These results compare well with the 65.2% efficacy against the delta variant obtained during the controlled phase III clinical trials of  Cov...

  The Bihar government has set up   Covid-19 vaccination camps   at Durga Puja pandals in the state to encourage people to get inoculated The Bihar government has set up COVID-19 vaccination camps at  Durga Puja pandals  in the state to encourage people to get inoculated. Speaking to ANI, Bihar Health Minister Mangal Pandey on Tuesday said, “These vaccination camps have been set up to encourage people to get vaccinated. It is very important to keep COVID-19 at bay.” “In order to increase the vaccination and testing, we have decided to set up camps at puja pandals. The government has requested people to follow COVID-19 protocols such as wearing masks at public places, maintaining social distancing etc,” he said. Speaking further, the minister said: “Awareness among the public is important for vaccination drive. During the festival when there is a possibility of the congregation of people at public places is common, we must be attentive and vigilant in order to co...

  Research shows that children are not the main source of transmission of Covid-19 in the community, school reopening is unlikely to lead to a third wave Reopening schools is unlikely to cause a third Covid-19 wave or lead to a large increase in cases in adults, even with the more infectious Delta variant, experts say and scientific research has shown. With a majority of India’s children having lost a year-and-a-half of learning, the benefits of opening schools with precautions far outweigh the risks. An analysis of various studies shows that there was limited Covid-19 transmission in schools if precautions such as wearing masks, ensuring ventilation in classrooms and avoiding overcrowding were followed. Despite the more transmissible Delta variant having increased the number of Covid-19 cases in those below 18 years in the UK and the US, severe cases and deaths are still at similar levels as in 2020 and the rate of severe cases and deaths is lower in children than older people, da...

  The study was aimed at analysing the antibody response after two complete doses of Covishield and Covaxin in Indians Indian health care workers who were administered Covishield have shown better antibody response than the Covaxin recipients, revealed a recent study. The study, published in an online archive for unpublished manuscripts in medical sciences medRxiv, showed that after two shots of the vaccines, 98 per cent recipients of Covishield showed antibody response, while the same was 80 per cent among Covaxin recipients. The study published by a group of doctors – Awadhesh Kumar Singh, Sanjeev Ratnakar Phatak, Ritu Singh, Kingshuk Bhattacharjee, Nagendra Kumar Singh, Arvind Gupta, and Arvind Sharma – has not been peer-reviewed yet. The researchers have declared no competing interest and that no funding was received for this cross-sectional study. The study was aimed at analysing the antibody response after two complete doses of Covishield and Covaxin in Indians. “We assessed ...

  North Korea has contended that some nations are hoarding stock of vaccines while others are suffering from a lack of supplies North Korea has slammed some countries for storing an excessive stock of COVID-19 vaccines while others suffer from a lack of supplies. In an official statement presented at the 74th World Health Assembly last week, North Korea also urged the World Health Organization (WHO) to help achieve a fair distribution of the vaccines across the globe. “The development of  COVID-19 vaccines  and medicines might be the achievement for the common mankind whereas an unfair reality is to be seen that some countries are procuring and storing the vaccines more than its needs by inspiring the vaccine nationalism plainly when other countries can’t even procure it with their affordability,” it said, reported Yonhap News Agency. Critising further Pyongyang also alleged countries for engaging in “national egoism with the vaccine and making bottleneck for the mass pro...

State to divert entire Covaxin stock for 45+ Maharashtra has put the brakes on vaccination of persons in the 18-44 years age group and will use the available stock to provide second dose for those above 45 years. The decision has been taken because of non-availability of adequate stock of Covid-19 vaccines, Maharashtra health minister Rajesh Tope said on Tuesday. The state health department has announced diverting the entire stock of 275,000 Covaxin doses, which it had procured for the 18-44 age group, to vaccinate those above 45 years. Doses of Serum Institute of India’s Covishield vaccine meant for 18-44 years too could be diverted for the 45 plus group. Tope indicated challenges in procuring doses but did not disclose the quantum of Covishield which could be diverted. As of now, no instruction has been issued to districts on diverting Covishield doses. While Maharashtra has declared it would divert Covaxin doses meant for 18-44 years, seven other states had last week flagged off sho...

  The Indian economy is projected to grow at 11 per cent in the current financial year amid the “strong” vaccine drive, said ADB on Wednesday The Indian economy is projected to grow at 11 per cent in the current financial year amid the “strong” vaccine drive, said ADB on Wednesday, while cautioning that the recent surge in COVID cases may put the country’s economic recovery at “risk”. “India’s  economy  is expected to grow 11 per cent in fiscal year (FY) 2021, which ends on March 31, 2022, amid a strong vaccine drive,” ADB said in its flagship Asian Development Outlook (ADO) 2021 released on Wednesday. However, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) cautioned that the surge in COVID-19 cases may put the country’s economic recovery at risk. For FY2022, India’s GDP is expected to expand at 7 per cent, it added. Further, it said the gross domestic product (GDP) of South Asia is expected to rebound to 9.5 per cent this year, following a contraction of 6 per cent in 2020, before mod...

  The government said that vaccination at the workplace would not only be convenient to the staff but it will also reduce the exposure to the virus by avoiding travel The government on Wednesday allowed Covid-19 vaccination at both public and private offices that have at least 100 eligible and willing beneficiaries over the age of 45. Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan, through a letter, directed state authorities to initiate a discussion with public and private sector employers and managements to launch workplace vaccination centres from April 11. The government said that vaccination at the workplace would not only be convenient to the staff but it will also reduce the exposure to the virus by avoiding travel. The workplace management would designate one senior staff as the nodal officer who will coordinate with the district health authorities and private vaccination centres. The nodal officer would also oversee registration, physical and technical infrastructure. Only employees, and...

  So far, only those above 45 who had certain co-morbidities were allowed to take the vaccine after producing a letter from a registered doctor The government has decided to open up its Covid-19 vaccination drive for all above 45 years of age from April 1, and requested that all eligible people should “immediately register and get vaccinated”. The rest of the population could be considered for vaccination coverage once the current stage is over.The government has decided to open up its Covid-19 vaccination drive for all above 45 years of age from April 1, and requested that all eligible people should “immediately register and get vaccinated”. The rest of the population could be considered for vaccination coverage once the current stage is over. The government has decided to open up its  Covid-19 vaccination  drive for all above 45 years of age from April 1, and requested that all eligible people should “immediately register and get vaccinated”. The rest of the population ...

  Also, continued collaboration across institutions was necessary to come out of the current situation as well as ward off catastrophic situations, he said Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) Director General Shekhar C Mande on Sunday warned that the COVID-19 crisis was far from being over and allowing a “third wave” by lowering our guard is fraught with grave consequences.Also, continued collaboration across institutions was necessary to come out of the current situation as well as ward off catastrophic situations arising out of climate change and over dependence on fossil fuels which had the potential to wipe out the entire humanity, he said Mande was speaking on “India’s response to Covid-19 from S & T perspective” at a virtual “National Science Day Lectures,” organised by Rajiv Gandhi Centre for Biotechnology here. The expert clarified that India is nowhere near achieving herd immunity and as such people should continue to wear masks and maintain social dis...

The jabs will be administered beginning January 16 Three temperature-controlled trucks filled with Covid-19 vaccine vials pulled out of Serum Institute’s production plant in Pune at 5 a.m on Tuesday, marking the start of a mega immunization drive in the country. The jabs will be administered beginning January 16. The trucks that headed to the Pune Airport were specially designed containers equipped with sensors monitoring location, temperature, light exposure and unusual jolting. The first flight to ship out the vaccine to Delhi was a SpiceJet Boeing-737 carrying 22 boxes. Each box weighing 32 kg contained around 12,000 doses of Covishield vaccines and gel packs- a portable plastic bag filled with refrigerant gel. A GoAir flight to Chennai followed shortly. In all, nine flights transported over 5.6 million doses of the vaccine to 13 cities across the country, prompting civil aviation minister Hardeep Singh Puri’s office to compare the effort to Hanuman carrying Sanjeevani from the Hima...

  The World Health Organization says it has cleared the Pfizer-BioNTech coronavirus vaccine for emergency use The World Health Organization says it has cleared the Pfizer-BioNTech coronavirus vaccine for emergency use, meaning poorer countries may soon get access to the shot already available in Europe and North America. Every country that has a drug regulatory agency will have to issue its own approval for any COVID-19 vaccine, but countries with weak systems usually rely on WHO to vet the shots. The global body said late Thursday that the decision to issue its first emergency use validation for a COVID-19 vaccine “opens the door for countries to expedite their own regulatory approval processes to import and administer the vaccine.” The UN health agency said its review found the  Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine , which has already received clearance in the United States, Britain, the European Union and a dozen other countries, “met the must-have criteria for safety and efficacy set o...

  Indonesia will at the first phase provide the Covid-19 vaccine to 9.1 million people between November and December 2020 Indonesia will at the first phase provide the COVID-19 vaccine to 9.1 million people between November and December 2020, the Health Ministry’s Disease Control and Prevention Director General Achmad Yurianto said. The first phase of vaccination will be carried out on the groups of people with highest risk of COVID-19 infections, namely medical and public service workers including airport employees, soldiers and police personnel, Xinhua news agency reported on Monday. Yurianto said that the vaccine would only be given to people aged between 18 years old and 59 years old, because clinical trials of vaccine candidates in the world have yet to target categories outside that age range. The vaccination will be carried out after the Indonesian Drug and Food Supervisory Agency (BPOM) issues an emergency use authorization and the Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI) provides ha...

  Facebook says it will ban ads on its platform that discourage vaccinations with an exception carved out for advocacy ads about government vaccine policies Facebook says it will ban ads on its platform that discourage vaccinations with an exception carved out for advocacy ads about government vaccine policies. The company already bans ads about vaccine hoaxes,” such as the false idea that vaccinations cause autism. The latest policy expands the ban to ads that discourage vaccines for any reason. But  Facebook  also said Tuesday that ads that advocate for or against legislation or government policies around vaccines including a COVID-19 vaccine will still be allowed. These ads will still have to be approved by the company as political advertisements and include a paid for by label on who is funding them. And unpaid posts by people or groups that discourage vaccinations will also still be allowed the new policy only includes paid advertisements. The social network said it ...