The post Monthly production capacity of vaccines to be increased : Centre appeared first on The Edge Media.
]]>Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya was responding to a question on the current capacity to manufacture Covaxin and Covishield in the country, and the expected capacity going forward from August to December 2021.
“As communicated by the manufacturers, the monthly vaccine production capacity of Covishield is projected to be increased from 110 million doses per month to more than 120 million doses per month and the production capacity of Covaxin is projected to be increased from 25 million doses per month to around 58 million doses per month,” the minister said in a written reply.
Further, the Department of Biotechnology under the Ministry of Science and Technology has launched ‘Mission Covid Suraksha – the Indian COVID-19 Vaccine Development Mission’.
The Mission is being implemented by Biotechnology Industry Research Assistance Council (BIRAC), a public sector undertaking (PSU) of the Department of Biotechnology, the reply stated.
Under the Mission, facility augmentation of Bharat Biotech and one state public sector enterprise and 2 central public sector enterprises (PSEs) – Haffkine Biopharmaceutical Corporation Ltd, Mumbai; Indian Immunologicals Limited (IIL), Hyderabad and Bharat Immunologicals Biologicals Limited (BIBCOL), Bulandshahr – for production of Covaxin have been supported.
In addition, technology transfer of Covaxin production to Gujarat COVID Vaccine Consortium (GCVC), including Hester Biosciences and OmniBRx Biotechnologies Pvt Ltd, led by Gujarat Biotechnology Research Centre (GBRC) of Department of Science and Technology, Government of Gujarat, has also been facilitated, the reply said.
Further, the Centre has also extended financial assistance to one of the domestic manufacturers for ‘At-risk manufacturing’, advance payment against the supply orders placed with Serum Institute of India and Bharat Biotech, besides streamlining regulatory norms for approval of vaccines, the reply added.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by The Edge Media staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
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]]>The post The ICMR study indicates a 4.5-fold and 3.2-fold reduction in neutralising antibody levels against the Delta variant appeared first on The Edge Media.
]]>The ICMR study has indicated a 4.5-fold and 3.2-fold reduction in neutralising antibody levels against the Delta variant in those who were given one and two doses of Covishield, respectively, compared to an earlier SARS-CoV-2 version that had the D614G mutation (detected early last year). Dr Samiran Panda, chief of the ICMR’s epidemiology and communicable diseases division, said, “These kinds of observations have the potential of informing immunisation programmes, including the possible need for a third booster dose for vaccination against Covid-19.”
For the study, serum samples were collected from healthy individuals who had received one or two doses of Covishield. Samples were also collected from Covid-recovered patients who had received one or two doses.
A fifth category of individuals from whom samples were drawn were breakthrough cases — people who had contracted Covid after vaccination.
Dr Pragya Yadav of the National Institute of Virology, a member of the research team, said the study indicated that serum of Covid-recovered participants (given either one or two doses) and the breakthrough cases had higher neutralising antibody titres compared to non-Covid participants who had received one or two shots of Covishield. “This indicates that neutralising antibodies in the serum of individuals who had contracted Covid, in a way, worked like the first dose. A full vaccination schedule after that resulted in higher levels of neutralising antibodies. Similarly, people who had received two doses of Covishield and contracted Covid after that (breakthrough infections) had higher levels of neutralising antibodies,” Dr Panda said.
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]]>The post EMA has not received an authorisation request for the Covidshield vaccine appeared first on The Edge Media.
]]>While many EU member states have started issuing the digital “vaccine passport” that will enable travellers to move freely for work or tourism purposes, those vaccinated with Covishield may not be eligible for the ‘Green Pass’ that will be available to use from July 1.
“Concerning a possible EMA authorisation for Covishield, as of yesterday, the European Medicine Agency (EMA) stated that it had not received a request for approval. It will examine any such request when received, as per its procedures,” the EU said in a statement.
The official clarified that the EU Digital Covid Certificate is meant to facilitate restriction-free movement within the member states and is not a pre-condition to travel. The certificate will serve as proof that the person was either vaccinated against the virus, received a negative test result or recovered from it.
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]]>The post 3,14,835 COVID-19 cases reported in last 24 hours appeared first on The Edge Media.
]]>On Thursday, more than three lakh new cases of COVID-19 infection were reported for the first time in the country, which is the largest number till date.
By the way, this is the fifth consecutive day, when more than two and a half lakh COVID-19 infections cases have been reported across the country.
According to the data released by the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, 3,14,835 new COVID-19 cases have been registered in India during the last 24 hours, taking the total number of infected in the country to cross one crore 59 lakhs to 1,59.
Has become 30,965. During the same period, 2,104 patients died across the country. This is also the largest number of coronaviruses ever recorded in a single day.
With this, the total number of people who lost their lives in this country has increased to 1,84,657.
Corona’s rising outbreak in April can be gauged from the fact that 37,81,630 new cases have been registered in the first 22 days of the month, and a total of 22,189 people have died due to covid in April so far.
By the way, this is the eighth consecutive day, when more than two lakh cases of coronavirus infection have been reported in the country.
Apart from this, Monday is the 12th consecutive day, with more than one and a half lakh cases coming up, and the 16th consecutive day, when more than one lakh new COVID-19 cases have appeared in the country.
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]]>The post Loss of more than one thousand crores, no effect on supply of Covidshield appeared first on The Edge Media.
]]>CEO of Serum Institute Adar Poonawala said that the fire has caused more than 1 thousand crores damage. He clarified that the fire would not have any effect on the supply of Kovid-10 vaccine, as no vaccine was being produced at the Manjari plant.On Friday, Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray reviewed the damage caused by the fire in the serum plant. He then told reporters that the incident was being investigated. Until the investigation report arrives, no conclusion can be drawn.Thackeray said that the serum plant was on fire, but fortunately the place where the vaccine was made and stored was not affected. The Chief Minister said that Adar and Cyrus told me that Kovid Vaccine is made from the Manjiri Plant sometime in another plant.
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