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Govt fixes Covid vaccine price at Rs 250 a shot for pvt hospitals

The Union Government has fixed the price of vaccines at Rs 250 for a dose which would be available at private hospitals for people above 60 years of age and those above 45 years of age with comorbidities, and will be vaccinated starting March 1, sources said.

The government has decided that the people will be vaccinated free of cost at the government hospitals.

The cost break-up is Rs 150 for a dose plus Rs 100 as a service charge which the private facilities can charge from the beneficiaries.

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Rare Disease Day: Health advocacy groups press for govt policy, say India’s numbers unknown

Rare diseases, including genetic disorders such as Hunter syndrome, Gaucher disease and Fabry’s disease, are expensive to treat, difficult to identify and extract a huge toll, mostly on the young, the experts said ahead of Rare Disease Day on Sunday.

Rare diseases are also not covered by insurance policies. It is imperative the government steps in to help these patients so they can lead a near normal life, Health groups in India said.

They have also urged the government to make newborn screening mandatory to be able to identify genetical problems at an early stage. The monthly treatment cost of such diseases can be anywhere between Rs 10 lakh and Rs 50 lakh, they said.

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Govt plans two-day halt in vaccinations for software upgrade to widen campaign

“The countrywide vaccination exercise is being exponentially expanded,” the ministry said in a statement, adding that a new version of its Co-Win digital platform was being rolled out at the weekend.

Co-Win, wrapped into a government mobile telephone app, is being widely used to fix vaccination appointments, allow health authorities to monitor supplies and download proof of immunisation.

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Indians allowed to choose vaccination sites as government seeks faster roll-out

But the inoculation campaign has progressed slower than expected due to a reluctance of health and front-line workers to take the home-grown COVAXIN shot that was approved without late-stage efficacy data. Only 11% of vaccinated people have opted for the product developed by Bharat Biotech and the state-run Indian Council of Medical Research.

With the world’s highest tally of infections after the United States, India wants to vaccinate 300 million of its 1.35 billion people by August. The decision to give people a choice of vaccines could now speed up the roll-out, officials believe.

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India’s economy exits from recession, recovery seen gathering pace ​​​​​​​

Gross domestic product grew 0.4% in October-December compared with the same period a year earlier, data released by the National Statistics Office on Friday showed. That compared with revised contractions of 7.3% in July-September and 24.4% in April-June.

Investment recorded its first growth since December 2019, growing at 2.6% compared to a revised 6.8% fall in the previous quarter, while weakness in consumer demand eased.

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Indian Insurance industry has recovered, pays Rs 9,000 crore Covid-19 pandemic claims :IRDAI Chief

While stressing the importance of Customer Data privacy, Khuntia added that the usage of data beyond a point of granularity should be avoided and insurers should not deny a coverage to the people on the ground, which is not under the control of the customers.
He was addressing a seminar on the theme of “Navigating Uncertainty: Insight-Driven Innovation “ organized by National Insurance Academy, in association with Swiss Re, on Friday.

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Climate pledges for 2030 put world far off 1.5C goal, UN warns

Only two of the 18 largest emitters – Britain and the European Union – had so far presented an updated “nationally determined contribution” (NDC) containing a “strong increase” in their emissions reduction targets, she noted. “Other major emitters either submitted NDCs presenting a very low increase in their ambition level or have not presented NDCs yet,” she added in a statement.

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