Prioritisation of population groups, procurement strategies, pricing, cold-chain management, and issues of logistics was some of the questions the Government of India needed to tackle for the success of the COVID-19 vaccination journey said a set of two reports – ‘COVID-19-India’s Vaccine Development Story’ and ‘India’s COVID-19 Vaccination Administration Journey’ — released by Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya on Wednesday.
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
Sanofi, GSK to seek authorisation for COVID-19 vaccine
Drugmakers Sanofi and GlaxoSmithKline said Wednesday they will seek regulatory approval for a new COVID-19 vaccine after human trials showed it provided a high level of protection against the disease.
Late-stage trials found that two doses of the vaccine were about 58% effective in preventing infection and 75% effective in preventing moderate to severe disease, the companies said in a statement. A separate study on the vaccine’s use as a booster showed that it “induced a significant increase in neutralizing antibodies,’‘ they said. -AP
AstraZeneca signs deal with Canada for 100,000 doses of COVID-19 drug
AstraZeneca plc signed an agreement with Canada for 100,000 doses of its antibody therapy for prevention of COVID-19 in some high-risk patients, the country’s government said on Wednesday.
AstraZeneca’s Evusheld is under review by Health Canada for use as a preventive treatment against the disease in those who are immunocompromised. -Reuters
Swiss to donate up to 15 million COVID-19 vaccine doses
Switzerland will donate up to 15 million COVID-19 vaccine doses to other countries by the middle of this year, having secured more than enough to cover its own population of around 8.7 million, the government said on Wednesday.
Around 34 million doses of vaccine will be available to Switzerland in 2022 - 20 million in the first half of the year and 14 million in the second, the cabinet said. -Reuters
Novavax starts shipping COVID-19 vaccine to EU states
Novavax Inc said on Wednesday it had started shipping doses of its COVID-19 vaccine to European Union member states, with France, Austria and Germany expected to be the first to receive the shots in the coming days.
Shipments of Nuvaxovid to additional EU member states from the company’s Netherlands distribution center are expected to quickly follow, adding to the stockpile of the region as it struggles with a surge in infections due to the Omicron variant. -Reuters
WHO announces 2nd hub for training countries to make COVID-19 vaccines
The World Health Organization said on Wednesday it has set up a hub in South Korea to train low- and middle-income countries to produce their own vaccines and therapies, and is expanding its COVID-19 vaccine project to a further five nations.
The new training hub comes after the U.N. agency set up a technology transfer hub in Cape Town, South Africa, last year to give companies from poor and middle-income countries the know-how to produce COVID-19 vaccines based on mRNA technology. -Reuters
With more oxygen plants commissioned, State-run hospitals in Karnataka now have surplus
Although the third wave has not seen any rise in demand for oxygen, the State is continuing its efforts to augment its oxygen generation infrastructure under CSR funds from the private sector.
On Tuesday, Health and Medical Education Minister K. Sudhakar inaugurated a pressure swing adsorption (PSA) oxygen generation plant with a capacity of 960 tonnes in K.C General Hospital.
