The government, under the directions of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, has adopted a four-pronged strategy on a state-private sector partnership model for speeding up vaccine development and production, government sources told ET.
The four pillars of this strategy are:
NEW DELHI: In a move to boost India's vaccine capacity, the Centre is extending financial assistance by way of grants to Bharat Biotech and Indian Immunologicals in Hyderabad, Haffekine Biopharma in Mumbai and Bharat Immunologicals in Bulandshahr while setting aside another Rs 200 crore for Covaxin alone.
The Bharat Biotech and Haffekine facilities are to receive grants of Rs 65 crore each. A separate support of Rs 200 crore is intended to increase Covaxin production from 1 crore doses a month to around 6 crore a month by August and 10 crore a month by September, which will mark a big step up. The Haffekine facility is expected to produce around 1.5 crore shots by August and 2 crore a month in six months.
Sources said an inter-ministerial group for capacity augmentation has engaged indigenous manufacturers for rapid scale up of vaccine production, tying up cooperation with private and public sector entities.
The decision to accelerate cooperation with the private sector in view of the unprecedented coronavirus crisis was taken at a meeting chaired by PM Narendra Modi in May last year where he is understood to have asked officials to consider private firms as partners. The government should be an investor and incubator for vaccine development and remove red tape, the PM had said.
ICMR provided Rs 10 crore assistance to Serum Institute of India for conducting trials of Covishield vaccine and also extended Rs 10 crore to SII for Covovax (Novovax) trials. Similarly, it gave Rs 30 crore to Bharat Biotech for Covaxin trials and financial assistance was also given to Zydus Cadilla for pre-clinical animal trials.
The department of biotechnology and PSU Biotechnology Industry Research Assistance Council are supporting nearly 15 vaccine candidates with Rs 100 crore.
Under a Rs 900 crore programme, five vaccine candidates in advanced clinical development and 19 trial sites are receiving assistance. Three immunogenicity assay labs and three other facilities are also benefiting under this mission.
The Centre's assistance to the private sector has also come by way of institutional support in setting up 11 clinical trial sites with a cohort of 50,000-1,00,000 volunteers each. Government labs are involved in generating animal models for SARS-CoV-2 and the immunoassay labs are critical to vaccine development.
Government labs have shared sequencing data related to coronavirus with private vaccine developers, saving time and expense. The Central Drugs Standard Organisation has worked to expedite vaccine development by enabling stockpiling even when a candidate is at the clinical trial stage, accelerated and rolling reviews, close cooperation with international regulators and other measures.
India may witness 1,750 deaths per day due to Covid-19, surging to around 2,320 by the first week of June, according to a report of the Lancet Covid-19 Commission by India Task Force members.
The experts have strongly recommended a temporary ban on gatherings of groups larger than 10 for the next two months.
Odd - I can see the full article, and I am no subscriber. Perhaps it's based on geo-location?Kakkaji wrote:Responding to bitter criticisms from many BRF-ites on this thread, the GoI has issued a full explanation of what it had done and is doing.
Story behind paywall, so can't post in full:
Covid-19: Govt’s 4-pronged strategy for vaccine development
The government, under the directions of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, has adopted a four-pronged strategy on a state-private sector partnership model for speeding up vaccine development and production, government sources told ET.
The four pillars of this strategy are:
The government, under the directions of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, has adopted a four-pronged strategy on a state-private sector partnership model for speeding up vaccine development and production, government sources told ET.
The four pillars of this strategy are: ensuring financial support to vaccine makers; providing institutional help to vaccine makers for virus isolation, testing, pre-clinical and clinical trials; accelerating the pathway to vaccine approval; providing ‘out-of-the-box’ solutions to ramp up production.
Government sources said in May 2020, Modi had told senior government officials not to differentiate between public and private sector and treat vaccine making companies as partners. The dispensation was to act as investor, incubator, evaluator and buyer of the vaccines as it went through the stages. The aim was to remove all obstacles and make vaccines available to all Indians in the shortest time.
Based on this, the Indian Council of Medical Research provided Rs 10 crore assistance to Serum Institute of India for trials of Covishield, and another Rs 10 crore for Covavax (Novavax) vaccine trials. ICMR also gave Rs 30 crore to Bharat Biotech India Limited for Covaxin trials. Zydus Cadilla was also extended financial assistance for its vaccine.
The Biotechnology Industry Research Assistance Council (BIRAC), a Department of Biotechnology PSU, is supporting nearly 15 vaccine candidates at a cost of Rs 100 cr, disclosed government sources.
“Mission Covid Suraksha”, which was announced as part of Atmanirbhar Bharat 3.0 package, has allocated Rs 900 crore for one year. Five vaccine candidates in advanced clinical development stage are being supported under this mission. Further, officials said, 19 clinical trial sites across the country, three immunogenicity assay labs and three animal challenge facilities are being supported by the government.
Besides this, official sources said, the government has provided institutional support to strengthen end-to-end vaccine development ecosystem. Eleven GCLP-compliant clinical trial sites have been established for quick trials. Each site has access to a cohort of about 50,000 to 1 Lakh volunteers. 34 hospital sites are also facilitating vaccine trials. Four autonomous institutes of DBT are involved in generating animal models for SARS-CoV-2.
As a result, government officials said, India has vaccinated more people daily than most other countries in the world. Though there are reports of shortage of vaccines in some states, they added that the Centre is taking steps to get foreign vaccines approved by other countries and helping the Indian companies ramp up production.
Approval of new vaccines was also expedited by steps like enabling stockpiling of vaccines while it’s under clinical trial, adaptive clinical trial design, emergency use approval, faster review and approval process, rolling review data, frequent expert committee meetings as well as collaboration with international regulators.
As for ‘out-of-the-box solutions’ to ramp up vaccine production, officials said a system of providing advance payment against supplies was approved as an incentive to augment production capacity. For this purpose, an inter-ministerial group was created to oversee and facilitate increase in capacity of domestic vaccine manufacturing. This group has been instrumental in upscaling domestic manufacturing capacities by optimal utilization of existing capacities, by tying up with other private and public sector entities.
This how Indian Immunologicals, Hyderabad; Haffekine Biopharmaceuticals, Mumbai; and Bharat Immunologicals and Biologicals, Bulandshahr were roped in, added officials. With funds of nearly Rs 200 crore, government plans to ramp up manufacture of Covaxin 10 times more from 10 million doses per month in the coming months.
To fast track the entry of foreign made Covid19 vaccines into India, government recently cleared a special regulatory dispensation to provide EUA to Covid19 vaccines approved for emergency use by credible foreign regulators.
Source: ET
Suraj wrote:I'm pleased to see that two of the things I suggested constitute half the pillars of the new plan. Given the situation these were the right steps to take.
Several devotees including saints from different Akhadas have tested Covid positive in Haridwar. Lakh of devotees participated in the last two ‘Shahi Snans’ violating Covid protocols by not wearing masks or maintaining social distancing.
I had totally forgotten that this year was the great Kumbha - Jupiter in Aquarius! Can't believe they went ahead with it during COVID-19. Fallout could be terrible. What do gurulog have to say about this? Can't imagine any social distancing/mask wearing happening in Kumbha crowds..This was in a great El Pais article a year ago, after spain had vicious a covid breakout with high fatalities. Avoid indoor areas like the plague and wear a good mask outside, if you are not yet vaccinated, and even if you are, just to make others less stressed out.Nope. There are no confirmed superspreading events or large clusters that are outdoors only. We saw no surge in cases after BLM protests & they were nationwide. Measures taken to restrict outdoor activities are disproportionate compared with the risk they pose. Thread w/links.
Have you been to Kumbh? Do you really think that everyone just walks away to their home after taking a dip? Trust me there are plenty of opportunities of crowding in inside location.srikandan wrote:Getting too excited about large crowds in the open is looking at the wrong cause for the spread -- not that it does not spread in the open, but the rate of spread leans towards indoor crowds without sufficient ventilation.
Malaysia Fades in Covid Fight
Competing companies, tardy procurement, low signup rates plague country
John Berthelsen
Malaysia, which early on in the fight against the Covid-19 coronavirus was one of Asia’s leaders, has begun to slip back, with at least some vaccine procurement seemingly diffused among competing parties thought to be aligned with top politicians, ostensibly illegal shots for royalty, low signup rates due to fears of blood clots, and sharply rising new cases.
Malaysia isn’t alone. Cases are surging across much of Southeast Asia, for instance in Brunei, Cambodia, Thailand, and other countries although all are far behind Indonesia and Philippines. With nearly more than 9,000 cases in the past week, Malaysia’s weekly rise has hit 35 percent during that period, according to statistics compiled by the website Worldometer.
The Ministry of Health has been seeking to identify reasons behind low take-up rates and considering steps to boost vaccine registration, plagued by the fact that vaccine doses have been trickling in slowly. Malaysia has vaccinated only 3.2 percent of its population. The government has only recently concluded phase 1 of the vaccination program, involving medical and nonmedical front-liners.
Rising dissatisfaction with vaccine procurement has bled into the larger political scene, with Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin protected from ouster only by a coronavirus emergency declared by the king, which is expected to last into August amid widespread belief that it was called only to protect him and his shaky and uncertain majority in the 222-member Dewan Rakyat, or parliamentary lower house.
Parti Islam se-Malaysia and the United Malays National Organization, two restive members of his alliance, for weeks have been dropping strong public hints about bailing out – especially since Muhyiddin has been seeking to lure “frogs,” as disloyal UMNO members are called, to jump to his Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia to strengthen its pallid numbers.
The king and his vaccines
One of the biggest concerns being spoken of in hushed tones within top political circles is that too many interests are freelancing vaccine purchases. Although there has been no confirmation, sources in Kuala Lumpur say Hamzah Zainuddin, the home affairs minister, and Health Minister Adham Baba are among them.
Then there is Malaysia’s current king, Sultan Abdullah Sultan Ahmad, who ascended the throne last year in the country’s rotating kingship of nine sultans and who has become a political force in his own right, not least by keeping Muhyiddin in office through the emergency decree declared on January 12.
Two well-placed sources say Sultan Abdullah went to the United Arab Emirates in January, with the Foreign Minister Hishamuddin Hussein and the Attorney General Idris Harun in tow, apparently to discuss with UAE Prince Mohamed bin Nayan, the king’s classmate in the elite UK institution Sandhurst, the vast amounts of money that sloshed out of 1Malaysia Development Bhd and across the middle east before the Malaysian sovereign investment collapsed in a welter of scandal.
The king and presumably his entourage are said by the sources to have been vaccinated as a favor with the Sinopharm vaccine in the UAE, one of the world’s leading countries in combating the virus along with other oil-rich gulf states. The vaccine has not been approved in Malaysia and is therefore illegal.
Sultan Abdullah, the sources say, was given an additional 2,000 doses for his family and friends to take home to Malaysia. With all of the Sultan’s family inoculated by two physicians – his personal physician Zulkarnain Ishmail, who practices at Gleneagles Hospital in Kuala Lumpur and Hanafiah Harounrashid, the vice chancellor of University Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM) – the excess vaccines were used for business partners and friends. The remainder was offered to Muhyiddin and other ministers – all of whom declined, as they were awaiting the Pfizer vaccine in a few weeks.
“The problem started when he instructed that the Ministry of Health issue the yellow booklets to show these people had been vaccinated and possibly allowing them to travel to countries which would accept the booklet,” the source said “Anyway, they would have peace of mind that they were less likely to get Covid than the average kampong dweller. The Ministry had issued about 200-plus booklets to the King’s family and friends and others when the Director General of Health, Noor Hisham, stopped it upon being warned that it was criminal as the Chinese vaccine had not been approved by the government.”
Noorhisham “even instructed a raid on the two doctor’s offices. Only one – Zulakrnain – had the vaccines in his office, I am reliably told. The Ministry of Health wanted to charge him in court but the King and PM stepped in and put a stop to that.”
The two doctors are continuing to administer the remainder of the vaccines in the king’s palace to friends and friends of friends of the king although it now is almost all gone.
“This is a scandal which is being talked about in social circles and at highest levels of government, but no one dares to go public because of the sedition laws and the emergency called by the king.”
Some sources have blamed much of the other problems in combating the coronavirus on the Director General of Health, Noor Hisham, who initially was regarded as being instrumental in keeping cases down but who now is widely disliked in government circles for being dictatorial although his public image remains positive.
‘In a totally dysfunctional cabinet made up of incompetent ministers, he dictates what should be done and what cannot be done,” a source said, adding that his critics say he held off approving the Pfizer vaccine until well after the European Union, the United States and the United Kingdom had recognized it. Now, with a long line already having obtained supplies including Israel, Bhutan, and Singapore, which has vaccinated at least 28.5 percent of its citizens, and with many more competing for it, Malaysia is described by a source as “at the back of the queue.”
The problem is that “rich countries have cornered the Covid-19 market,” said Khairy Jamaluddin, the coordinating minister for Covid-19 immunization, in a prepared statement. “Some rich countries have bought enough vaccines for their citizens three to five times over. Many pharmaceutical companies give preference to rich countries for obvious reasons. That is also why Malaysia has had to balance our vaccine portfolio to include Pfizer, AstraZeneca but also those from non-Western countries like Sinovac.”
It is also the same journal where Covaxin and Sputnik have published their results. Perhaps, consider an article on its own merit?srikandan wrote:Isn't this the same Lancet "medical" publication that had a fake paper on HydroxyChloroQuine last year and a report on Kashmir or some other political issue in India a few months before that?
When the tiny Himalayan nation of Bhutan was gifted 150,000 doses of the AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine in January, they decided to consult the stars before rolling them out.
Buddhist monks informed the government that the most auspicious time to begin the inoculation drive was late March, and a woman born in the Year of the Monkey was an ideal candidate.
Thirty-year-old Ninda Dema was the chosen one — given her first dose at the perfect astrological time of 9:30am on March 27.
She received the shot from a nurse who was also born in the Year of the Monkey, at a vaccination centre in the capital Thimphu, amid chanting of Buddhist prayers.
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In just 16 days, Bhutan has vaccinated 93 per cent of its adult population. That means 63 per cent of its 800,000 citizens have received their first injection.
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But this landlocked nation tucked between China and India faced many other challenges to reach people in remote mountain villages and low-lying valleys.
Even before the pandemic was declared, the small nation had been warning of doctor shortages.
The World Health Organization had recommended the doctor-population ratio be 1:1000, meaning 1,000 people should have a doctor. Going by this, Bhutan needed about 700 doctors. Instead, they had just 337.
In order to roll out the vaccines, the country was reliant on volunteers, known as 'desuups', who trekked through difficult terrain to deliver vaccine equipment. They have also encouraged locals to keep up wearing a mask and social distancing.
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Vaccine centres were kept open on weekends to allow as many people as possible to get their jab, while the elderly and those with mobility issues got home visits.
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"We achieved universal immunisations in the 1990s and we have always been very successful in vaccinations," Bhutan's Health Minister Dasho Dechen Wangmo told the UK Telegraph.
"So the current immunisation is riding on the existing programs, there were already a lot of systems in place and it made it very easy to introduce a new vaccine through a lot of advocacy and micro-level planning."
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What other countries might learn from Bhutan's success
According to the Atlantic, there were five key factors to Bhutan's strategy: engaged leadership, preparedness, acting speedily, drawing on existing strengths, and providing enough support to those who isolate.
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That included implementing the gold standard for public health measures: detect, test, trace, isolate, and treat cases. The country also worked to increase the capacity of healthcare workers, hospitals, laboratories, and ensure delivery of essential health services.
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The Government has been credited with maintaining trust with the public, who have come out in droves to be vaccinated.
But having a smaller population size and a sense of civic duty has also been key.
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"So one of the lessons that we have learnt from Bhutan is the positive outcomes of listening to instructions and following guidance when it comes to successful vaccine rollout and … the fast, decisive action with strong leadership, but we're in very, very, very different countries."
#COVID19 - Outbreak In India @outbreak_india
#LargestVaccineDrive
Day 91: 30,04,544 India #vaccination update on 17-Apr at 7 AM
Total Doses: 11,99,37,641
Dose1:10,44,08,484 22,96,008
Dose2: 1,55,29,157 7,08,536
Explore more at https://outbreakindia.com/vaccination
#COVID19 - Outbreak In India @outbreak_india
Day 443: Flag of India #COVID19 update
Active Cases: 16,79,740 +1,09,997
Recovery Rate: 87.23%
Fatality Rate: 1.21%
Confirmed: 1,45,26,609 +2,34,692
Recovered: 1,26,71,220U +1,23,354
Deaths: 1,75,649 +1,341
Samples Tested: 26,49,72,022 +14,95,397
https://outbreakindia.com/india-dashboard
CDC: About 5,800 'breakthrough infections' reported in fully vaccinated people
Many questions remain about who might be at risk for the so-called breakthrough infections.
Quite frankly, your friend has no clue what he is talking about.vijayk wrote:Talking to a friend working in chemical industry ...
He says no vaccine other than Pfizer and Moderna is working. Not covaxin, AZ, or even Sputnik.
Sad to hear about your friend. But two points to keep in mind, 1) For AZ, reasonable immunity kicks in around 2-3 weeks after the first dose. 2) There will always be exceptions and vaccines will not work on everyone. It is a numbers game, if it is 75% effective there are still 25% remaining and that can be a lot of people.saip wrote:My BiL got his first shot around 5th April. Few days later he was diagnosed from COVID19. I am certain he caught infection prior to the shot and obviously there was lag before the symptoms showed up. Five days back he was admitted into a hospital. He was tried the usual treatment including Remidisivir, Plasma and Prednisone etc. Nothing worked. He passed away today. Just 59 and diabetic but under control. Obviously immunity does not kick in or alleviate the disease after the first shot. Hope everyone realizes that.
I dismissed him like that only ... But the number of infections I am hearing in India with AZ vaccinated people is worrying me.Raja wrote:Quite frankly, your friend has no clue what he is talking about.vijayk wrote:Talking to a friend working in chemical industry ...
He says no vaccine other than Pfizer and Moderna is working. Not covaxin, AZ, or even Sputnik.
exactly ... this is what I feel too..nits wrote:Just sharing the feel what we are seeing / hearing around - in family whatsapp group, cousins is Modi is just not seen when whole country is in fear and unsure how things r spinning out of control and mind you they all are Modi fans
Either Media / opposition narrative is working or people just not seeing enough steps on ground in terms of vaccines, oxygen etc etc and Q'ing Central Gov as they are in fear
Corona is a flu virus. Kids and older people are generally given fly jab for seasonal flu. Does it prevent people from getting flu? No. it doesn't. However it makes sure, if people do get it, it is in milder form. Higher the spread of flu virus, higher the probability of a vaccinated people getting the infection.vijayk wrote: I dismissed him like that only ... But the number of infections I am hearing in India with AZ vaccinated people is worrying me.
That's why I don't want to dismiss these theories
Corona is not a flu virus! The generic term flu virus refers to a virus family, that infects birds, pigs, other livestock, and humans and exchanges genetic material in hosts. It mutates really fast, which is why flu vaccines are on average only 30-40% effective. Corona on the other hand mutates, but much slower than the flu family of viruses and we have very good vaccines. So far, most studies that are saying this vaccine is ineffective against that variant are **in vitro** (or test tube) studies. These studies are intriguing but not the final word.. The human body is a miracle of nature and extremely resilient to viruses and bacteria. In all likelihood, most vaccines will impart some protection, even if you get an infection, it will keep you out of the hospital and out of the morgue. Dont be misled by reports of breakthrough cases, a small percentage of really large numbers is still a large number! There will be hundreds, even thousands of cases of vaccines not preventing disease, but there is a very high chance that they will save your life.nam wrote:Corona is a flu virus. Kids and older people are generally given fly jab for seasonal flu. Does it prevent people from getting flu? No. it doesn't. However it makes sure, if people do get it, it is in milder form. Higher the spread of flu virus, higher the probability of a vaccinated people getting the infection.vijayk wrote: I dismissed him like that only ... But the number of infections I am hearing in India with AZ vaccinated people is worrying me.
That's why I don't want to dismiss these theories
Corona being a flu virus works exactly the same way. People, despite being vaccinating may get infected, because their is a community spread.
However the vaccination will prevent majority of the people from landing up in hospital. The objective is to save lives, not prevent infection with mild symptoms.
So anyone who says only Pfizer and Moderna works is talking nonsense. All vaccines with public data works. Pfizer may look good, because it is been administer in place with reduced community spread. Someone cannot get infected, if there is no infection around him. Doesn't matter if he has taken Pfizer or Covaxin.
OT Southeast Asian and even far eastern (So Ko) have high level of nepotism and is driven by autocratic politicized clans who mostly work as syndicates to keep out new challengers. Singapore et al are pretty undemocratic because of this and it is tough for a new party to come up or even express dissent. And yet makes into top of lists of “coolest democracies and paradises” run by the Scandinavian scammers because of one thing: abject tailoring of policy making and cultural subservience to west. Retail corruption is firmly kept under check, but competency under crisis usually drops, which is then hidden behind heavy PRPaul wrote:
I went to KL and Penang in 2019. I was impressed at the level of development in their country, and then this level of nepotism happens at the top most levels. I am scratching my head at how to explain this.
https://www.asiasentinel.com/p/malaysia ... ce=twitter
Experts have been urging people to take the Covid-19 vaccine shots to keep themselves safe from the coronavirus infection.
But some recent cases in India have raised concerns among the people regarding vaccine efficacy.
The distrust began to appear as reports revealed that many people including some senior citizens—for example, Karnataka Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa—tested positive for Covid-19 even after taking at least one shot of the vaccine.
But there is something which people should understand and cannot be overlooked.
Covid-19 Positive After Vaccination
According to a recent analysis of such cases in Nashik, the infection in inoculated people is mild and most of them recover at home, reported The Times of India.
The study took into consideration 150 people who tested positive after taking at least one shot.
While just 25 of those patients were needed to be hospitalised, only 5 of them showed serious symptoms.
The data also revealed that their family members also didn't get the infection and the patients themselves recovered within 15 days after home isolation and medication.
Among 150 people, 70 per cent were aged 60 plus and 25 per cent of them belonged to the 45 plus age group.
The report also noted that 5 per cent of those infected people were healthcare workers.
Not only in India but in other countries, where similar infection cases were reported, observers have noticed either mild or asymptomatic Covid-19 cases.
The science behind the vaccine’s efficacy is simple and healthcare experts have been explaining it for a long time
An expert from the World Health Organization (WHO) Dr Kate O’Brien explained that immune response kicks in within about two weeks of the first dose.
She clarified that the second dose of the vaccine is responsible for boosting the immune response.
Some experts have also urged people to take safety precautions, such as wearing masks, even after taking both the sots as it takes time for the body to build up full immunity.
