Budget 2018-19

  Besides being poorly paid, most of them are working without gloves, masks or sanitizers two years into the pandemic. Dressed in pink, the women have gone door to door for months, persuading people to get Covid-19 vaccines in some of India’s remotest corners, hinterlands and crowded urban slums, often risking their own personal safety. For their trouble, they make about $40 a month, a wage barely enough to make ends meet. More than a million of these frontline healthcare workers across the country — pivotal to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s goal of inoculating the nation’s entire population and reviving the $2.6 trillion economy — are soon about to snap. Nine  Asha workers  Bloomberg News interviewed across India said authorities who earlier assured them better wages, personal protective equipment and safe working conditions haven’t kept those promises despite a two-day stoppage last year. Even worse, some say they haven’t been paid for months. The All India Trade Union ...

  Research does not estimate vaccine effectiveness against hospitalisation, severe disease, and death. Two doses of Covaxin, the India-made vaccine, are 50 per cent effective against symptomatic Covid-19, said an independent study by researchers based on real-world assessment . Results of the interim study, which was published in The Lancet Infectious Diseases Journal, showed that two doses of the vaccine manufactured by  Bharat Biotech Covaxin , also known as BBV152, had 77.8 per cent efficacy against symptomatic disease and present no serious safety concerns.. The study titled ‘Effectiveness of an inactivated virus-based SARS-CoV-2 vaccine, BBV152, in India: a test-negative, case-control study’ assessed 2714 hospital workers at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in Delhi, from April 15–May 15, who were symptomatic and underwent RT-PCR test for  Covid-19  detection. The researchers, including doctors Manish Soneja, Adil Rashid Khan, Devashish Desai,...

  One of the reasons for the success of India’s Covid-19 inoculation campaign was the trust that people developed in the vaccine and the process followed, writes Prime Minister Narendra Modi. India completed vaccination of 100 crore (one billion) doses on October 21, 2021, in just about nine months since starting vaccination. This has been a tremendous journey in dealing with Covid-19, especially when we recall how things stood in early 2020. Humanity was dealing with such a pandemic after 100 years and no one knew much about the virus. We remember how unpredictable the situation appeared then, as we were faced by an unknown and invisible enemy mutating rapidly. The journey from anxiety to assurance has happened and our nation has emerged stronger, thanks to the world’s largest vaccination drive. It has been a truly ‘bhagirath’ effort involving multiple sections of society. To get a sense of the scale, assume that each vaccination took just two minutes for a healthcare worker. At t...

  An independent Covid-19 vaccine safety monitoring board considered that the woman’s death was due to myocarditis, which is known to be a rare side effect of the Pfizer Covid-19 vaccine New Zealand on Monday reported what authorities said was the country’s first recorded death linked to the Pfizer Covid-19 vaccine. The information was released by the health ministry following a review by an independent Covid-19 vaccine safety monitoring board of the death of a woman after receiving the vaccine. The ministry’s statement did not give the woman’s age. The board considered that the woman’s death was due to myocarditis, which is known to be a rare side effect of the  Pfizer Covid-19 vaccine , the statement said. Myocarditis is an inflammation of the heart muscle that can limit the organ’s ability to pump blood and can cause changes in heartbeat rhythms. “This is the first case in  New Zealand  where a death in the days following vaccination has been linked to the Pfizer ...

  More than 15.4 mn balance and unutilised Covid-19 vaccine doses are still available with the states, UTs and private hospitals to be administered, the Union Health Ministry said More than 1.54 crore balance and unutilised  COVID-19 vaccine doses  are still available with the states, UTs and private hospitals to be administered, the Union Health Ministry said on Monday. Over 38.86 crore vaccine doses have been provided to states and UTs so far through all sources and a further 63,84,230 doses are in the pipeline, it said. Of this, the total consumption including wastage is 37,31,88,834 doses, according to the data available at 8 am. The new phase of universalisation of COVID-19 vaccination commenced from June 21.

  Biden came up well short on his goal of delivering 80 mn doses of coronavirus vaccine to rest of world by end of June as a host of logistical and regulatory hurdles slowed pace of US vaccine diplomacy President Joe Biden came up well short on his goal of delivering 80 million doses of coronavirus vaccine to the rest of the world by the end of June as a host of logistical and regulatory hurdles slowed the pace of US vaccine diplomacy. Although the Biden administration has announced that about 50 countries and entities will receive a share of the excess  COVID-19 vaccine  doses, the US has shipped fewer than 24 million doses to 10 recipient countries, according to an Associated Press tally. The White House says more will be sent in the coming days and stresses that Biden has done everything in his power to meet the commitment. It’s not for lack of doses. All the American shots are ready to ship, the White House said. Rather, it’s taking more time than anticipated to sort ...

  Accused Debanjan Deb, who allegedly organised fake Covid-19 vaccination camps impersonating an IAS officer, has confessed to having organised two such camps in the city, said Kolkata police Accused Debanjan Deb, who allegedly organised fake COVID-19 vaccination camps impersonating an IAS officer, has confessed to having organised two such camps in the city, said Kolkata police on Sunday. Police said the accused confessed to organising fake vaccination camps at — City College and Kasba”He claims that he wrote a mail to Serum Institute of India for sending  Covishield . This is being verified. He has also confessed to organising two camps. One at City College and one in his office at Kasba. No other camp for vaccination was organised elsewhere,” police said. They informed that accused Deb’s staff and ex-staff are being examined by police. “Ten such persons have been summoned for examination or are being examined. Apart from this, we are examining more people called for cross-e...

  Women contracting Covid-19 during pregnancy are over 50% more likely to experience complications and they are more at risk of death. Kalyani Agrahari, 27, an assistant teacher, was assigned to poll duty in eastern Uttar Pradesh’s Jaunpur block during the April 2021 state panchayat elections. Eight months pregnant with her first child and advised bed-rest by her doctor, Kalyani asked to be excused from the 12-hour duty at the poll booth that was 32 km from her home. The district administration not only turned down her application but also threatened her with disciplinary action if she did not report for work. Kalyani, who had been appointed to the job just four months before, had no option but to comply. On the evening of April 15, when she returned home from the poll booth, she complained of fever and body ache. When her temperature did not subside for three days, her family tried to get her hospitalised. She was turned down by eight hospitals that said they had no free beds. In ...

  The Delhi government has exhausted its Covaxin stock for people over 45 years while that of   Covishield   will last only 12 days, AAP MLA Atishi said on Wednesday The Delhi government has exhausted its Covaxin stock for people over 45 years while that of Covishield will last only 12 days, AAP MLA Atishi said on Wednesday. So, this means that those awaiting their second dose of Covaxin in Delhi are in a situation wherein they may be wondering if their first dose will go to waste, she said.Covaxin doses are administered at Centre-run hospitals like the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS). For the 45 and above group, about 2.92 lakh doses of Covishield are in stock and this can be used for just 12 days of vaccination. The Covaxin stock, which was available at a diminished scale till recently, is already exhausted, Atishi said. The few  Covaxin  doses that were available in the past few days were used for administering the second dose, she said. In a ...

  Two Chinese activists, who faced a stringent crackdown for reporting on the early days of the Covid-19 outbreak in Wuhan, are facing punishment after being tried in a Beijing court earlier this week Two Chinese activists, who faced a stringent crackdown for reporting on the early days of the COVID-19 outbreak in Wuhan, are facing punishment after being tried in a Beijing court earlier this week. According to South China Morning Post (SCMP), Cai Wei and Chen Mei, who pleaded guilty, archived censored articles about COVID-19 and ran an online discussion forum before they were detained in April 2020 and charged with “picking quarrels and provoking troubles”. These offenses are being increasingly used to punish a number of activists who contradicted the official narrative on the pandemic. A verdict on the two activists will be announced later, according to their families. This comes after citizen journalist Zhang Zhan was jailed for four years in December last year for the same offen...

  Long queues of vehicles could be seen in the border areas since morning as Karnataka authorities sealed many roads With the Karnataka government reinstating stricter control of transit passengers from Kerala in view of increasing Covid-19 positive cases, people here bound to Mangaluru and other parts of Dakshina Kannada for various purposes including medical needs and studies are in a fix again. Long queues of vehicles could be seen in the border areas since morning as Karnataka authorities sealed many roads including national highways and restricted entry only for those with Covid-19 negative certificates. The Dakshina Kannada authorities sealed all borders from Monday except four to cross over, sources said. According to Karnataka officials at the borders, those who wish to enter have to produce  Covid-19  negative certificate through an RT-PCR test taken 72 hours prior to their cross over time. Health and police personnel are on duty at the four borders, viz.Talapady...

  Healthcare workers must endorse the inoculation, declining will be matter of sadness: Government officials With more than 630,000 vaccinated within the first four days of the drive in India — the fastest in the world in doing so — the government strongly urged health care workers to shed hesitancy and come forward to take the jab in order to create a Covid-proof health care system and achieve vaccine-induced herd immunity. “The whole world is clamouring for a vaccine. If we still decline, it would be a matter of sadness… I will urge them (health care workers) to endorse the vaccine. We have to start non-Covid services; those who are fortunate to receive the  Covid 19 vaccine  should not refuse it,” said V K Paul, member (health), NITI Aayog. Paul, who has himself taken a shot of Bharat Biotech’s Covaxin, had assured people of safety. He said India has finally got a breather from Covid, and that this is the time to vaccinate as many as possible. So far, says the health m...