The four variants of concern — alpha, beta, gamma and delta — all carry multiple mutations affecting the spike protein. That raises questions about whether people who have developed antibodies to the “regular” or “wild type” strain — either from a vaccine or from having recovered from Covid — will be able to fight off the new variants.
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DGCI gives nod for phase 2/3 trials of Biological E’s Covid vaccine on those aged between 5 & 18
Covid 19 Pandemic: Almost 1 in 3 affected due to work stress, ICICI Lombard survey
Sanjay Datta, Chief – Underwriting, Reinsurance & Claims, ICICI Lombard General Insurance , said, “With the transformed perception of the masses, our consumer base today looks at a health insurer not only for financial immunity during times of ill-health but we are now looked up as a partner in their holistic wellness journey. Additionally, through this survey, we observed a mindset change taking place with 47% of people and 42% of the younger age group (25-35 years) wanting to adopt a healthy lifestyle to not just get a better appearance but also feel better about themselves. Therefore keeping overall wellness as a focus, ICICI Lombard intends to act as a conduit towards a health-conscious India.”
U.S. FDA authorizes Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine for emergency use
Healthcare workers and elderly people in long-term care facilities are expected to be the main recipients of a first round of 2.9 million doses.
Cases are surging in the United States, with thousands of death per day, while hospital intensive care units across the country are nearing capacity, threatening to overwhelm healthcare systems.
India readies for 600 million COVID vaccine jabs; to use standard cold storage – top government expert
“The four that I can see, including Serum, Bharat, Zydus, and Sputnik need normal cold chain. I see no problem for these vaccines,” ,V.K. Paul, who heads the group of experts on vaccine administration, told Reuters in an interview.
Serum Institute of India, the world’s largest vaccine maker, is already mass producing and stockpiling AstraZeneca’s Covishield shot, while Indian biotech players Bharat Biotech and Zydus Cadila are developing their own vaccine candidates.
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.
Gennova Pharma gets conditional permission for human trial of Covid vaccine
“DBT-BIRAC has facilitated the establishment of the first-of-its-kind mRNA-based vaccine manufacturing platform in India. DBT has provided seed funding for the development of Gennova’s novel self-amplifying mRNA-based vaccine candidate for COVID-19, the DBT had said in a statement earlier.
Apollo hospital ready to vaccinate 1 million people daily
Apollo Hospitals has so far trained 6,000 staff to give out jabs across its network of 71 hospitals, hundreds of clinics and thousands of pharmacies, according to Managing Director Suneeta Reddy, who said the company’s talks with officials in New Delhi had yet to provide any firm guidance.
“We need to know if the government wants to handle the whole thing or allow the private sector to do it,” Reddy said in an interview Tuesday.
“The issue here is how can we double the amount of people that can be vaccinated,” she said from Chennai, adding that Apollo is ready to help in any capacity. The government “can do it, but it will take time.”
Japan to buy 10,500 freezers for coronavirus vaccines
Japan has agreements to buy a total of 290 million doses of the vaccines from Pfizer Inc, AstraZeneca Plc and Moderna Inc, or enough for 145 million people if everyone gets two shots as required.
Pfizer’s vaccines need to be kept at around minus 75 Celsius (minus 103 Fahrenheit, and Moderna’s at about minus 20C, posing logistics problems.