-The Hindu Top COVID-19 vaccination official responded to query on mismatch with Health Ministry’s number of 135 crore doses. A May 13 estimate, by one of India’s top officials overseeing the pandemic response, that India would have 216 crore doses of vaccines from August-December was based on an “optimistic, aspirational assessment” and based on what Vaccine manufacturers had conveyed to the government. VK Paul, Chairman, National Empowered Group on Vaccine at a press briefing...
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186 crore vaccine doses needed to cover all over 18, says Centre -Krishnadas Rajagopal
-The Hindu Free vaccines for everyone, Supreme Court told. The Centre informed the Supreme Court on Saturday that it will require 186 to 188 crore vaccine doses to twice inoculate the 93 to 94 crore population aged above 18 years. It said 51.6 crore doses would be “made available” by July 31. “The total population of the county aged 18 and above is 93-94 crore. Administering two doses to these beneficiaries would require an...
More »US vaccine ‘gift’ to India may not be substantial -Suhasini Haidar
-The Hindu Vaccine gifts of 2-3 million doses may have little impact on India: officials The government on Friday welcomed the U.S. decision to lift restrictions under its Defence Production Act on the export of vaccine ingredients to AstraZeneca Vaccine manufacturers worldwide, which would help the Serum Institute of India produce more doses. However, Washington’s announcement of gifting India and dozens of other countries with a first tranche of 25 million doses of...
More »Modi's Gamble, and How Many Lives It Will Cost -Prem Shankar Jha
-TheWire.in Modi did not want only to prevent a second wave; he wanted all the credit for stopping COVID-19 in its tracks to go to him and him alone. In her heart-rending description of her desperate search for oxygen to save her father’s life, the celebrated TV news anchor Barkha Dutt ascribed his death to three features of governance that have defined Modi’s India: complacency, callousness and incompetence. She could have added...
More »On Covid patents waiver, health cannot be held hostage to profit -Rajshree Chandra
-The Indian Express Innovation in vaccine production can have an impact only if it is accessible to all. Patents and access to life-saving drugs has always been an emotive and contentious issue. The right to healthy life is a moral minimum, and to find a rational basis to deny it is deeply offensive to the idea of life itself. At the same time, pharma corporations and institutions claim patents are a just...
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