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India to achieve 100-crore vaccination mark by first week of October
India is expected to achieve the 100-crore vaccination mark by the first week of October and around 2.5 crore doses are likely to be administered by the end of the day [Friday evening], sources in the government said on Friday.

"The Centre is capable of supplying as many vaccines as the states need and in real-time without delay," the source said.

Government sources indicate that they hope to achieve the target on October 7 - a date that coincides with Prime Minister Narendra Modi's 20 years in public life. The source added that the Union Health Ministry is planning a huge celebration, once it achieves the 100-crore vaccination mark.

India's vaccination plan will also prioritise vaccination in border areas of Kerala and Karnataka -- given the situation in terms of the high burden of cases in those areas.

The government said 7.60 crore doses were available with the states as of Thursday evening.

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By the end of this month, 1 crore doses of the Zydus Cadila Covid-19 vaccine will be ready to be rolled out, the source said. Zydus Cadila's ZYCoV-D, the world's first DNA vaccine against Covid-19, can be administered to children between the age of 12 and 18 years.

Whether or whether not to administer ZYCoV-D vaccine to children will be decided by the National Immunization Technical Advisory Group (NTAGI), the source said.

The government is also expecting to receive 20 crore doses of Covishield from the Serum Institute of India (SII) this month. Last month alone, the SII provided 19 crore doses of Covishield

As many as 3.5 crore doses of Covaxin from Bharat Biotech is also expected.

Sources further said approvals to Pfizer-BioNtech vaccines have been given. But, sources say, given that they have raised different demands during each conversation the government has had with them, the deal is not coming through. Added to this is the controversial indemnity clause which India does not want to agree to.

Indemnity means security against a loss or other financial stress. In legal terms, it means a contractual obligation of one party to compensate another party due to the acts of the former. The clause is commonly used in insurance contracts.

Sources in the government said states are not saying anything conclusive on oxygen deaths. "States have not responded definitively," the source said.

India administers over 1.5 crore Covid vaccines in a day

India administered 1.5 crore Covid-19 vaccine doses on Friday till 3.30 pm, setting a new record on PM Narendra Modi's birthday. This is the fourth time that one crore doses have been administered in a single day.

As of Friday morning, India had administered a total of over 77 crore doses of Covid-19 vaccines.

On August 31, India administered over 1.30 crore doses, the highest single-day vaccinations so far. India achieved the one-crore doses milestone for the first time on August 27 this year.
 
India govt won't buy Pfizer, Moderna vaccines amid local output -sources

By Neha Arora, Krishna N. Das & Aftab Ahmed
September 21, 20216:42 PM IST
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Vials with Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna coronavirus disease (COVID-19) vaccine labels are seen in this illustration picture taken March 19, 2021. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration.

NEW DELHI, Sept 21 (Reuters) - India's government will not buy COVID-19 shots from Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna, three government sources told Reuters, mainly because domestic output of more affordable and easier-to-store vaccines has jumped.

That essentially means the globally popular vaccines, which their makers have pledged not to sell to private parties during the pandemic, will not be available for now in the world's two most populous countries - China and India.

The Indian government has also declined to meet the U.S. companies' requests for legal protection over any side-effects from the use of their shots, which are currently made only in the United States or Europe, two of the sources said.

No company has received such protection in India.

"Earlier, there was a shortage, there was a need," said one of the sources, referring to India's appeal to the companies in April for vaccines when infections exploded and shots were in short supply.

"Their price will be high. Why should we take on their conditions?"

A second source said: "The government will not buy Pfizer and Moderna vaccines. They are free to have private tie-ups after necessary regulatory clearances. But sovereign indemnity is clearly something we can't give".

A Pfizer spokesperson in India said discussions were ongoing and it remained committed to bring the vaccine to the country.

The company reiterated that "during the pandemic phase, it would supply the COVID-19 vaccine only to central governments and supra-national organisations".

Moderna and India's health ministry did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Moderna, through its Indian partner Cipla, already has emergency-use authorisation in India for its vaccine, which, like the Pfizer one, needs ultra-cold storage - facilities that much of India lacks.

Both vaccines cost several times more than India's main shot, Covishield, a licensed version of the AstraZeneca drug.

India's monthly domestic output has trebled since April and will reach 300 million doses in October, according to Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya, who on Monday announced a restart of India's vaccine exports from the October quarter. read more

The government, however, is expected to buy locally filled and finished doses of Johnson & Johnson's vaccine, Reuters reported on Monday. read more

India govt won't buy Pfizer, Moderna vaccines amid local output -sources
 
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99 Crore Jabs to be Delivered in 92 Days: Can India Hit Its Next Covid Vaccination Target?​

India is currently implementing a Covid vaccination drive for its entire 94-crore adult population. The government has set a target of inoculating every adult individual by December 2021 and, earlier this month, union minister G Kishan Reddy reiterated this.

The three vaccines currently being administered in India are all two-shot vaccines: Covishield, Covaxin and Sputnik V. Covishield and Covaxin are manufactured in India; the Government of India has promised to deliver 85 crore of both of these vaccines between October and December — 28.25 crore in October, 28.25 crore in November, and 28.5 crore doses in December.

Out of this, the Serum Institute of India (SII), which produces Covishield, is expected to provide 23 crore doses in each of these three months.

Going by the current health ministry figures, 25.5% of India’s adults are fully vaccinated. That means around 24 crore people. The number of people who have received only a single dose so far stands at 41 crore. If we combine these two, it means the country still has 29 crore unvaccinated adult individuals.

If India has to fully vaccinate its entire adult population of 94 crore individuals, it needs 188 crore doses. Of this, 89 crore or 47% of the doses have been administered in the nine months of the drive so far.

This means India needs to administer another 53% or 99 crore doses during the 92 days of the next three months.

Can the Government of India achieve this deadline?

No. It cannot.

And this time, the availability of the vaccines is not the reason, something that was seen during the 2nd Covid wave between April and June, when a shortage of doses even forced a stoppage of the inoculation drive in many areas.

Availability of the vaccine is no more an issue for the government. It has already assured the delivery of 85 crore doses of the vaccine until December while talks are also on to procure more.

The supply of at least 5 crore doses of two other vaccines – 2.5 crore doses from Zydus Cadila and 2.5 crore of Sputnik V produced in India by Panacea Biotec is in the pipeline during these three months.

Also, some additional deals may happen soon. SII is expected to launch the Covavax vaccine, the Indian version of the US vaccine Novavax this month. According to Serum Institute, it has the capacity to produce 8 crore doses of Covavax a month.

India has also paid in advance for 30 crore doses from Hyderabad-based Biological E for its under-development Corbevax vaccine. Bharat Biotech’s under-development nasal vaccine could also be an addition once it is approved.

So, the availability of vaccines, in fact, is not going to be a problem.

The main problem now is the gap between administering two doses of a vaccine. Covishield, which accounts for 88% of total doses administered in the country so far, has a minimum prescribed gap of 12 weeks or 84 days.

Now, let’s do some simple calculations.

29 crore adults are still unvaccinated. Going by the 88% correlation, around 25.5 crore individuals are supposed to get Covishield only. Now if the country manages to partially vaccinate its entire adult population by this month, many of the recipients receiving the first dose of the Covishield vaccine will have their next due date after 84 days – that will fall somewhere in January 2021.

A way to meet the December target is to reduce the gap between the two doses of the Covishield vaccine. But the government is not in favour of that. As per NK Arora, chairman, Covid-19 working group of National Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation (NTAGI), it would be ethically and scientifically an incorrect step. “These reports about the Centre likely to reduce the gap for Covishield administration in the private vaccination centres are not correct," he said. There cannot be different rules for different categories of people; that would be discriminatory and science does not work like that. In case of modifications for students needing to travel for studies and other people taking international travel, there was a compelling reason to modify the guidelines.”
 

In brutal second wave mortality, vaccines made all the difference​

Reaffirming the critical role of Covid-19 vaccines in protection against death, health ministry data show that in the first seven weeks of the second wave of the pandemic, the 60-plus age group reported about 121 weekly deaths per million among the non-vaccinated, 2.6 weekly deaths per million among those who had received their first dose, and 1.76 weekly deaths per million among those who were fully vaccinated.

The data, being collated for a vaccine tracker which is to be launched soon, is significant, especially in the backdrop of public health experts expressing concern over a possible surge in cases following the festival season in October. Moreover, about 24 per cent of the estimated 60-plus population, identified as the most vulnerable group, are still unvaccinated.
Also Read |Explained: Is Covid-19 now endemic in India? Should we worry about rising cases?
According to the latest data, 10.09 crore persons in the 60 years and above category have got their first dose, and 5.58 crore are fully vaccinated.

On September 9, the health ministry released the first real-time data of India’s vaccination drive, which showed near-total efficacy in preventing serious illness and death. The data for four months (April 18-August 15) showed that vaccine efficacy in preventing deaths was 96.6 per cent after the first dose and 97.5 per cent after the second dose. A total of 2,52,873 deaths were reported in this period.
The vaccine efficacy was calculated on the basis of granular data on the weekly deaths per million, based on the ICMR’s Covid-19 testing data, vaccination data updated on the Co-Win platform, and the health ministry’s official death count.
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An analysis of this granular data showed a huge difference in the absolute number of deaths that were reported among the unvaccinated, as compared to those who were vaccinated, even during the peak of the second wave.

Consider this:
* Between the weeks ending April 18 and May 30, the 60 years and above age group reported an average of 121.21 weekly deaths per million among the non-vaccinated. The figure dropped to 2.64 weekly deaths per million among those who had received the first dose; and 1.76 weekly deaths per million among those who were fully vaccinated.
* In the same period, the 45-59 years age group reported an average of 39.9 weekly deaths per million among the non-vaccinated; 0.87 weekly deaths per million among those who had received the first dose; and 0.42 weekly deaths per million among those who were fully vaccinated.
* In the 18-44 years age group, there was an average of 5.6 weekly deaths per million among the non-vaccinated; 0.6 weekly deaths per million among those who had received the first dose; and 0.1 weekly deaths per million among those who were fully vaccinated.
Significantly, this was the period when the country was reporting a shortage of Covid-19 vaccines, and only 13 per cent of the estimated adult population had received the first dose.
The vaccination drive picked up in the beginning of June. In the week ending June 6, the first dose coverage stood at 15 per cent; it touched 32 per cent in the week ending August 15.
In this period, there was a significant drop in the number of deaths being reported among the non-vaccinated. Data analysis showed almost full protection against death among those who had received even a single dose of the vaccine.

* Between the weeks ending June 6 and August 15, the 60 years and above age group reported an average of 30.04 weekly deaths per million among the non-vaccinated; 0.46 weekly deaths per million among those who had received their first dose; and 0.33 weekly deaths per million among those who were fully vaccinated.
* In the same period, the 45-59 years age group reported an average of 8.41 weekly deaths per million among the non-vaccinated; 0.11 weekly deaths per million among those who had received their first shot; and 0.10 weekly deaths per million among the fully vaccinated.

* The 18-44 years age group reported an average of 1.08 weekly deaths per million among the non-vaccinated; 0.02 weekly deaths per million among those who had received their first shot; and 0.06 weekly deaths per million among those who were fully vaccinated.
 

India crosses landmark of 900 million Covid vaccinations, says health minister​

India has administered 900 million Covid-19 vaccines so far, Union health minister Mansukh Mandaviya said on Saturday. This landmark number assumes significance as the government is aiming to vaccinate every adult individual by December 2021.

"Shastri ji gave the slogan 'Jai Jawan - Jai Kisan'. Revered Atal ji added 'Jai Vigyan' and PM @Narendra Modi Ji gave the slogan 'Jai Anusandhan'. Today the result of anusandhan is this corona vaccine.#JaiAnusandhan," Mandaviya tweeted.

The Union government is committed to accelerating the pace and expanding the scope of COVID-19 vaccination throughout the country, the health ministry said earlier in the day. The vaccination drive has been ramped up through availability of more vaccines, advance visibility of vaccine availability to states and UTs for enabling better planning by them, and streamlining the vaccine supply chain, the ministry added.

India crosses the landmark of 90 crore #COVID19 vaccinations.

श्री शास्त्री जी ने 'जय जवान - जय किसान' का नारा दिया था।

श्रद्धेय अटल जी ने 'जय विज्ञान' जोड़ा

और PM @NarendraModi जी ने 'जय अनुसंधान' का नारा दिया। आज अनुसंधान का परिणाम यह कोरोना वैक्सीन है।#JaiAnusandhan pic.twitter.com/V1hyi5i6RQ
— Mansukh Mandaviya (@mansukhmandviya) October 2, 2021

The government today further informed that over 5.28 crore unutilised vaccine doses are still available with the states/UTs.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi had launched the first phase of the nationwide Covid-19 vaccination drive on January 16 via video conferencing.

To ramp up the pace of vaccination, the government introduced the 'new phase of universalisation' of Covid-19 vaccination on June 21, 2021. Under this drive, the Centre is procuring and supplying free of cost 75 per cent of the vaccines being produced by the vaccine manufacturers in the country to states and UTs.
India crosses landmark of 900 million Covid vaccinations, says health minister
 
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