The report showed gaping inequalities related to race, ethnicity,...
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One pregnant woman or newborn dies every 7 seconds: new UN report
A pregnant woman has a prenatal check-up at a hospital in Muttuck,...
CSR: 356 bone marrow transplants for Thalassemia patients successfully completed
Thalassemia is an inherited blood disorder that causes a body to...
U.S. COVID deaths smash daily record amid pleas to trim back Christmas
WASHINGTON/NEW YORK ( The daily U.S. death toll from COVID-19 has surpassed 3,000 for the first time, prompting pleas for Americans to scale back Christmas plans even with vaccines on the cusp of winning regulatory approval.COVID-19 deaths reached 3,253 on...
World’s largest vaccine maker India tees up global blitz to contain virus
Others that are likely to benefit from an expected surge in demand are: pharmaceutical firms Dr Reddy’s Laboratories, Cadila Healthcare and Hetero; logistics company FedEx; cold chain storage specialist Snowman Logistics and Hindustan Syringes & Medical Devices, among others.
Hindustan Syringes says it will increase capacity by 42% to 1 billion units by the first half of next year. It has already shipped some 140 million syringes that disable themselves after one use for the global vaccine distribution program COVAX.
Indian pharma industry’s COVID-19 vaccine plans
SII has already made and stockpiled more than 50 million doses of COVISHIELD and aims to ramp up production to 400 million doses by mid-2021. It has already applied for emergency use authorization of the vaccine in India.
The company could sell the vaccine at 250 rupees ($3.39) per dose to the Indian government and 1,000 rupees on the country’s private market. By comparison, the Pfizer’s supply deal with the U.S. government amounts to $39 for a two-dose course, while Moderna plans to charge between $25 and $37 per dose.
UN chief warns ‘vaccine nationalism’ is moving at full speed
The UN chief on Wednesday reiterated his call for vaccines to be treated as a global public good, available to everyone, everywhere on the planet, especially in Africa. And he appealed for 4.2 billion in the next two months for the World Health Organisation’s COVAX programme, an ambitious project to buy and deliver coronavirus vaccines for the world’s poorest people.
After a virtual UN meeting with the African Union, Guterres said at a news conference that financing COVAX is the only way to guarantee vaccines will be available in Africa and other developing areas.
How the novel coronavirus has evolved and adapted to human hosts
In Asia, the original L strain persisted for longer as several countries, including China, were quick to shut borders and curtail movement. In contrast, North America and Europe did not restrict movement as much, at least initially, which allowed the G strains to spread – and mutate – at a faster pace.
“This virus moves in superspreader events, which means the virus doesn’t have to be particularly contagious,” said Catherine Bennett, epidemiology chair in the Faculty of Health at Melbourne’s Deakin University. “We will see different patterns because of cluster transmission.”
Kanpur emerges as key centre for Covid vaccine trials
After successful human trials of two vaccines, one developed by Bharat Biotech and the other Russian Sputnik, the third vaccine — Zydus Cadilla’s vaccine ZyCov-D — would be given to a set of healthy volunteers in Kanpur.
The Indian Council for Medical Research (ICMR) earlier had shortlisted Prakhar Hospital as one of two centres for human trials.
SpiceJet ties up with Om Logistics for COVID-19 vaccine transportation
Recently, the Gurugram-based airline said its dedicated freighter division SpiceXpress has the capability to transport sensitive drugs and vaccines in controlled temperatures ranging from (-)40°c to (+)25°c.
The strategic partnership aims to not only provide a speedy and seamless solution for COVID-19 vaccine movement and delivery, but also to create a sustainable cold chain network both domestically and internationally, SpiceJet said in a release.
India’s COVID-19 tally rises to 97.64 lakh with 31,521 fresh cases
The COVID-19 case fatality rate stands at 1.45 per cent.
The number of people who have recuperated from the disease surged to 92,53,306.
The active caseload remained below 4 lakh for the fourth consecutive day. There are 3,72,293 active coronavirus infections in the country which comprise 3.81 per cent of the total caseload, the data stated.
USFDA to scrutinise Pfizer’s coronavirus vaccine data for red flags
The FDA found the vaccine highly effective across various demographic groups. But it’s unclear how well the vaccine works in people with HIV and other immune-system disorders.
UAE says Chinese coronavirus vaccine 86% effective, offers few details
It wasn’t immediately clear if the announced results included only those taking part in the testing in the UAE or if they also include results from China and elsewhere.
The statement described the vaccine as receiving official registration without elaborating on what that meant. Emirati officials could not be immediately reached for comment.