Heena Sharma Blog

  Chinese President Xi Jinping pledged 2 billion doses of Chinese vaccines would be supplied to the world through this year, an increase that would add to country's efforts as the largest global exporter of COVID-19 vaccines . Xi's announcement was delivered at the International Forum on COVID-19 Vaccine Cooperation, state media reported Wednesday, which China hosted virtually. That figure likely includes the 770 million doses China has already donated or exported already since September last year, according to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Most of the Chinese shots have been exported under bilateral deals. It is unclear if the figure also includes the agreements with the COVAX mechanism where two Chinese vaccine manufacturers will provide up to 550 million doses. Xi also promised to donate $100 million to the UN-backed COVAX program, which aims to distribute vaccines to low- and middle-income countries, the official Xinhua News Agency said Wednesday night. Vaccine

  Vaccine maker Novavax announced Thursday it has asked regulators in India, Indonesia and the Philippines to allow emergency use of its COVID-19 vaccine -- offering its shot to some low-income countries before rich ones with ample supplies. US-based Novavax partnered with the Serum Institute of India to apply in the three countries, and plans later this month to also seek the World Health Organization review needed to be part of the COVAX global vaccine programme. Novavax CEO Stanley Erck called the submissions an important step toward access to millions of doses of a safe and effective vaccine for countries with an urgent need to control the pandemic. The company announced it also plans to submit applications in Britain soon, followed by Europe, Australia, Canada and New Zealand, but not in the US until later in the year. The Novavax two-dose shot is made with lab-grown copies of the spike protein that coats the coronavirus. That's very different than other widely used

  An additional 60 lakh COVID-19 vaccine doses will be received by the states/union territories in the next three days, the central government informed on Monday. In a media release, the health ministry said the government of India has so far provided nearly 16.54 crore vaccine doses (16,54,93,410) to states/union territories free of cost. Of this, the total consumption including wastages is 15,79,21,537 doses (as per data available at 8 am on Monday). "More than 75 lakh COVID vaccine doses (75,71,873) are still available with the states/union territories to be administered. Furthermore, more than 59 lakh (59,70,670) vaccine doses will be received in addition by the states/union territories within the next three days," the release stated. The Centre on April 19 had announced a ''liberalised'' policy, making all above 18 years of age eligible to get vaccinated from May 1. It has also allowed state governments and private hospitals to purchase vaccines f

  In a much-awaited move, India has allowed Covid vaccination for all above 18 years of age, starting May 1. The decision, taken at a meeting chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday, is expected to change the course of the pandemic currently raging through the country. India Inc and political parties have for long demanded the opening up of vaccination for all adults. In a departure from the current policy, the government has also allowed states to procure additional vaccine doses directly from the manufacturers. Vaccine supply to open market and industries has been permitted as well with conditions. In fact, the government will allow the imported ready-to-use vaccines to be entirely utilised in the open market. While the pricing arrangements have not been revealed, the latest announcement clubbed with the recent proposal to fast-track clearances could attract a host of foreign vaccine-makers, according to officials. Vaccination would continue free of cost in government

  A group of EU member states including Germany, Italy and the Czech Republic will today start piloting a technical system to connect their national Covid-19 tracing apps in an effort to contain the spread of the virus as people travel across borders. The system, due to be fully operational in October, arrives as cases are again on the rise across the bloc. The move underscores the need to sync Covid-19 tracing systems with those of neighbourhood regions as, fortunately or unfortunately, people start moving around more. Total Confirmed Cases: 29,006,033 Change Over Yesterday: 245,860 Total Deaths: 924,105 Total Recovered: 19,625,959 Nations hit with most cases: US (6,519,979), India (4,846,427), Brazil (4,330,455), Russia (1,059,024) and Peru (722,832). Read More

Eli Lilly and Co could have a drug specifically designed to treat COVID-19 authorized for use as early as September if all goes well with either of two antibody therapies it is testing, its chief scientist told Reuters on Wednesday. Lilly is also doing preclinical studies of a third antibody treatment for the illness caused by the new coronavirus that could enter human clinical trials in the coming weeks, Chief Scientific Officer Daniel Skovronsky said in an interview. Lilly has already launched human trials with two of the experimental therapies. The drugs belong to a class of biotech medicines called monoclonal antibodies widely used to treat cancer, rheumatoid arthritis and many other conditions. A monoclonal antibody drug developed against COVID-19 is likely to be more effective than repurposed medicines currently being tested against the virus. Read More

Vaccine major Serum Institute of India on Sunday said it planned to start production of the Covid-19 vaccine developed by Oxford University in the next two to three weeks and hoped to bring it to the market by October if the human clinical trials were successful. The Pune-based company has partnered with Oxford University as one of the seven global institutions manufacturing the vaccine. “Our team has been working closely with Dr Hill from Oxford University, and we are expecting to initiate production of the vaccine in 2-3 weeks and produce 5 million doses per month for the first 6 months, following which, we hope to scale up production to 10 million doses per month,” Serum Institute India chief executive Adar Poonawalla said. Read More

Serum Institute’s recombinant BCG vaccine would be the first vaccine candidate in India to start human trials within the next two weeks. This is to test if the vaccine, administered at birth to Indians to fight tuberculosis, can also boost immunity in adults against the novel coronavirus. If all goes well, the vaccine, which has a proven safety track record, can be in the market by the end of this year. Serum Institute can make 300-400 million doses of this vaccine. The Bacillus Calmette-Gurein (BCG) vaccine named after French microbiologists Albert Calmette and Camille Guérin, is given to infants in India upon birth. Globally, the practice is to administer it to children below one year of age. Read More