BackIndia may grant emergency nod to Covid-19 vaccines approved in US, UK, EU
Harsh Vardhan said that various measures are being taken by the Union government to ramp up vaccine production in the country
PremiumCovid-19 vaccines developed or being manufactured in foreign countries and which have been granted emergency approval for restricted use by US, Europe, UK and Japan or which are listed in WHO’s Emergency Use Listing may be granted emergency use approval in India, union health minister Harsh Vardhan said on Wednesday.
The health minister said that various measures are being taken by the Union Government to ramp up vaccine production in the country. While it will touch 8 crores doses by May 2021, it will touch 9 crores in June 2021, Harsh Vardhan said.
Harsh Vardhan on Wednesday interacted with State Health Ministers and Principal Secretaries/ Additional Chief Secretaries of 8 states. These states/UT are depicting a high growth rate in the number of daily cases, higher mortality, very high and growing positivity rate. These included the UT of Jammu and Kashmir and the States of Uttarakhand, Haryana, Punjab, Bihar, Jharkhand, Odisha and Telangana.
At least 3,48,421 new covid-19 cases were registered in the last 24 hours. Ten States reported 71.22% of the new cases in last 24 hours. Maharashtra has reported the highest daily new cases at 40,956. It is followed by Karnataka with 39,510 while Kerala reported 37,290 new cases. Also, 4,205 deaths were reported in the last 24 hours. Ten States account for 73.17% of the new deaths. Maharashtra saw the maximum casualties (793). Karnataka follows with 480 daily deaths, the union health ministry data showed.
Dr Sujeet K. Singh, Director National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) presented a granular analysis of the covid-19 trajectory in the States. “The apparent shift of covid-19 towards lower age groups is driven by the fact that higher age groups have been vaccinated in considerable proportion by now," he said suggesting ramp up of testing and vaccination in peri-urban areas as the spread is now going to peri-urban and rural places. “Irrespective of the covid-19 variants, measures for preparedness and protection remain the same. The states should augment medical infrastructure for testing and vaccination to mount a sturdy response to the Pandemic," said Singh.
There has been a shortage of covid-19 vaccines in various states. After the state government’s directive to divert all Covaxin stocks intended for the age group of 18 to 44 to the second dose of vaccination for those aged above 45, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) said it would continue to vaccinate the younger age group with Covishield. The BMC is likely to reserve a couple of days in the coming week only for second dose vaccinations.
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Tuesday said that Centre should formulate a national policy to vaccinate every person within the next few months by increasing the production.
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