India's wait for a locally-produced coronavirus vaccine has gotten longer after an expert committee of the Drug Controller General of India (DCGI) put Serum Institute's and Bharat Biotech's applications on hold , citing lack of complete data.
Pfizer-BioNTech — whose vaccine has been approved for use in the United Kingdom and Bahrain — had applied to Indian regulators before SII and Bharat Biotech, and was scheduled to present its data to the committee but did not turn up, the source added.
You can track coronavirus cases, deaths and testing rates at the national and State levels here . A list of State Helpline numbers is available as well.
Here are the latest updates:
New COVID cases stay below 40,000 for 11 days
India’s cumulative COVID testing has crossed 15 crore on Thursday, with one crore tests being conducted in the past 10 days, the Union Health Ministry said on Thursday. India had conducted 10 crore tests by October 23.
“9,22,959 samples were tested in the last 24 hours which has increased India’s total cumulative tests to 15,07,59,726,” the Ministry said in a release.
The Ministry added that India has reported less than 40,000 new daily COVID cases for 11 straight days. In the last 24 hours, 31,521 persons had tested positive.
Third wave of COVID-19 pandemic in Delhi ‘on the wane’: Jain
The third wave of COVID-19 pandemic in the national capital is not over yet but it is “definitely on the wane”, Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain said on Thursday.
Delhi recorded 2,463 new COVID-19 cases and 50 fatalities on Wednesday, the lowest number of deaths in a single day since November 1.
As the positivity rate slipped to 3.42%, Mr. Jain had on Wednesday tweeted that it was heartening to see that the national capital is “emerging victorious” in the battle against the coronavirus.
UK issues anaphylaxis warning on Pfizer vaccine after adverse reactions
Britain's medicine regulator said anyone with a history of anaphylaxis to a medicine or food should not get the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine , giving fuller guidance on an earlier allergy warning about the shot.
The Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) said there had been two reports of anaphylaxis and one report of a possible allergic reaction since rollout began.
Anaphylaxis is an overreaction of the body's immune system, which the National Health Service describes as severe and sometimes life-threatening.
“Any person with a history of anaphylaxis to a vaccine, medicine or food should not receive the Pfizer BioNTech vaccine,” MHRA Chief Executive June Raine said in a statement.
“Most people will not get anaphylaxis and the benefits in protecting people against COVID-19 outweigh the risks... You can be completely confident that this vaccine has met the MHRAs robust standards of safety, quality and effectiveness.”
Maharashtra identifies three groups for receiving COVID-19 vaccine on priority
The Maharashtra government has decided to give priority to health workers from government and private hospitals, daily wage workers, and those employed with integrated child development services for the soon-to-be-made-available vaccine on COVID-19.
“The process of vaccination will run like a voting procedure. Booths will be set up and only those who are registered will be allowed to enter, along with an identity card. The person concerned will get a message on their phone and a certificate with QR code on completion of vaccination,” said an official.
COVID-19 vaccine to have differential pricing: Pfizer
Global pharma major Pfizer has said it will have differential pricing on its COVID-19 vaccine for different countries, as the company aims to make the vaccine available across the world.
“The fundamental that went into the pricing was that we make sure we make it very quickly available to everyone,” said Pfizer Inc Chairman and CEO Albert Bourla.
“We are having a tier pricing. It is one price for the developed world based on their GDP, another price, lower for the middle-income countries and in the low-income countries, like countries in Africa etc we are giving it on a not-on-profit base,” he added. Even in developed countries, the price is what they can afford to pay. In the U.S. the price is $19.50, the price of an average meal, Mr. Bourla said.
