Wuhan Coronavirus Resource Thread

Tanaji · Post by **Tanaji** » 29 Mar 2021 16:10

What is more difficult is Thackrey asking for “technology transfer” of the AZ vaccine so that Haffkine can produce vaccines. For one, the IP is owned by a consortium that may have granted exclusive production rights to AZ and SII. The government can’t willy nilly force anyone to produce anywhere....

Thackeray probably knows this but is trying to save his behind...

Mort Walker · Post by **Mort Walker** » 29 Mar 2021 18:30

Looks like only 260K on Sunday. It was Holi, so understandable numbers were low. Reports from family were that in many places Holi colors being applied with gusto and maybe 10% mask useage in 2nd tier cities. There is corona fatigue and many are not going for testing who are showing symptoms but non serious.

darshan · Post by **darshan** » 29 Mar 2021 18:52

Not fatigue but economics. Need money to stay alive. Money population with fatigue doesn't define all. Many don't see any point of getting tested. For the same reason as money. This chinese virus isn't the only thing ready to kill poor and that's the word which isn't fatigue. Of course they do have a point that there's lot more out there that will kill them. One also has to put themselves in their shoes and live life. I got tested positive. So what? No money and need money. I'll take my chances. I have seen and survived long list of diseases on everyday basis. That's me. Poor but not fatigue.

Else we know many rich who are content with their lives and don't take medicines even with high diabetes and blocked arteries.

Uttam · Post by **Uttam** » 29 Mar 2021 19:05

Here are the weekly numbers of vaccinations in India since March 1st:

Mar 1 - Mar 7: 6.69 mil
Mar 8 - Mar 14: 8.92 mil
Mar 15 - Mar 21: 15.15 mil
Mar 22 - Mar 28: 15.46 mil

So the current rate is a little over 1.5 crores per week. This week a lot more people will be eligible and we should see a lot more demand. Let's see if the supply can keep up.

nam · Post by **nam** » 30 Mar 2021 01:00

On the topic on people not wearing mask. Lot of countries don't have requirement to wear a mask in the open. Example in UK. It is only in closed places like shops/supermarket and transport.

The spread is not large in open spaces, where air is flowing. It is always in closed spaces. Offices, restaurants, school/colleges AND biggest of all: homes.

Why is that India got the second wave in March? why not before that? Guess what happened early this year. Schools and Colleges!

The biggest concentration of humans in a confined space for the longest period in a day. Schools & colleges. They then infect their families, while kids are hardly effected. We have high density classrooms.

The same issue was observed in European second wave. Nobody bothered to notice.

vera_k · Post by **vera_k** » 30 Mar 2021 02:13

^ Here's an article that lends support to this theory.

Over 470 children below 10 years infected

Kakkaji · Post by **Kakkaji** » 30 Mar 2021 02:16

Dr Reddy's expects Covid vaccine to get nod from India in next few weeks

Pharma major Dr Reddy's Laboratories expects the Russian coronavirus vaccine Sputnik V to get approval from the Indian regulator in the next few weeks, a company official has said.

Observing that trials of the vaccine have been conducted in Russia, India, the UAE and others, he said the vaccine demonstrated an efficacy of 91.6 per cent as published in reputed journal Lancet.

The data on trials is currently with the Indian regulator and the company expects it to get approved in the next few weeks, he said.

"Now, what we have done in India, in addition to all this, we also conducted trials in India and evaluated the vaccine on the Indian population for both safety as well as for immunogenicity. This data is currently with the Indian regulator and we expect it to get approved in the next few weeks," he said.

Kakkaji · Post by **Kakkaji** » 30 Mar 2021 02:21

Not Covid-specific, but related to future of vaccine development in India:

Bharat Biotech ropes in its related firms to deepen tie-up with IICT for new vaccine platforms & key inputs

Bharat Biotech International, the company that in collaboration with select government organisations developed Covaxin, one of the two COVID-19 vaccines currently being administered in the country, has now roped in two other companies Biovet, and Sapigen Biologix and deepened its engagement with the Indian Institute of Chemical Technology, which is a constituent laboratory of the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR).

To formalize this a joint Master Collaborative Agreement (MCA) was signed on Monday (March 29) by all the entities with those from Biovet and Sapigen led by directors related to the Bharat Biotech promoter family.

It apparently seems a very broad agreement and not quite confined to one area or to any single platform technology and could work on agonist molecules that are used to make the adjuvant used to make a vaccine, as was done by IICT earlier for Bharat Biotech’s Covaxin.

There may be other chemical requirements or lipids/ lipid nano particles that find use (both for stability and effectiveness) in the vaccine formulation and development and the strengths of the IICT laboratories and its experience with lipid nano particles could be leveraged for this.

Giving an example of the mRNA platform that vaccines abroad like the Pfizer and Moderna have deployed, Dr Shekhar C Mande, Director General, CSIR, said it was an important platform and we thought we all should also be contributing to it and bring this platform to India and be able to leverage the technologies and the platforms to try and add ress the needs across disease categories, including COVID so that future pandemics can be dealt with.

Kakkaji · Post by **Kakkaji** » 30 Mar 2021 02:23

Covid-19 second wave in Maharashtra: BMC to release asymptomatic patients to ensure beds for needy

As COVID-19 cases are going up rapidly in Mumbai, the city civic body on Monday decided to discharge asymptomatic patients at the earliest to vacate beds for the patients with more serious symptoms.

The civic body has also decided to place the order for procuring 1.5 lakh injections of antiviral drug Remdesivir and other medical equipment to avoid any potential shortage of medicines at hospitals, a senior official said.

IndraD · Post by **IndraD** » 30 Mar 2021 03:05

canada blocks use of oxford below 55 yrs of age

Tanaji · Post by **Tanaji** » 30 Mar 2021 04:50

Kakkaji wrote:
As COVID-19 cases are going up rapidly in Mumbai, the city civic body on Monday decided to discharge asymptomatic patients at the earliest to vacate beds for the patients with more serious symptoms.

The civic body has also decided to place the order for procuring 1.5 lakh injections of antiviral drug Remdesivir and other medical equipment to avoid any potential shortage of medicines at hospitals, a senior official said.

Why are asymtomatic patients in the hospital in the first place? Genuinely want to know.

manjgu · Post by **manjgu** » 30 Mar 2021 08:00

before the present spurt there was a lull in no of cases... hospital beds were empty so its quite possible some asymptomatic or less symptoms patients were indeed admitted.

sanjaykumar · Post by **sanjaykumar** » 30 Mar 2021 20:11

It’s an oxymoron.

vijayk · Post by **vijayk** » 30 Mar 2021 22:57

Monday
Total Vaccination : 5,82,919

Suraj · Post by **Suraj** » 30 Mar 2021 23:19

Monday was Holi. I'm surprised they vaccinated ~600K people despite the public holiday.

Uttam · Post by **Uttam** » 31 Mar 2021 00:14

Less than 13 lakhs today until 7 pm.

Mort Walker · Post by **Mort Walker** » 31 Mar 2021 00:31

Suraj wrote:Monday was Holi. I'm surprised they vaccinated ~600K people despite the public holiday.

Holi was Sunday and Monday. Both days had low vaccination numbers.

vijayk · Post by **vijayk** » 31 Mar 2021 01:05

cowin.gov.in
My SIL says she was able to book for covaxin on April 4 in Appollo Hyderabad

Kakkaji · Post by **Kakkaji** » 31 Mar 2021 03:13

Uttam wrote:Less than 13 lakhs today until 7 pm.

I think the number of vaccine-eager seniors has tapered off.

Given that all 45+ will be eligible from Thursday, I am hoping for a big spike in the number of vaccinations per day. India needs to go above 5 million vaccinations per day and consistently achieve it for at least 6 days per week, to make a dent in the spread of this disease.

Kakkaji · Post by **Kakkaji** » 31 Mar 2021 03:20

Everyone older than 45 years will be eligible for vaccine from Apr 1, says India's Health Min

The Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan on Tuesday announced that from April 1 all people above 45 years will be eligible for vaccination.

He stated that advance appointments for vaccination can be booked through http://cowin.gov.in, or one can visit their nearest vaccination center after 3 pm and get on-site registration done.

"From April 1 all people above 45 yrs of age will be eligible for vaccination. Advance appointments can be booked through http://cowin.gov.in. If you don't want to do this, you can go to your nearest vaccination center after 3 pm and go for on-site registration," said Bhushan during a press meet.

He added, "Those who want to go for on-site registration are requested to go to their nearest vaccination center after 3 pm with an identity document. Usually people with Aadhaar Card and voter ID. But you can also produce a bank passbook, passport, ration card."

Kakkaji · Post by **Kakkaji** » 31 Mar 2021 03:24

Punjab neither conducting adequate tests, nor able to isolate cases: Centre

Punjab has been neither conducting adequate number of tests nor been able to promptly isolate COVID-19 positive people, the Health Ministry said on Tuesday.

Giving an overview of the COVID-19 situation in states and Union Territories that are witnessing a surge in cases, Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan said in Punjab, where the average daily new cases in the second week of February was 332 it has now risen to 2,742.

Also, the average daily deaths which was eight in Punjab in February has now increased to 52.

"This signifies that neither are you (Punjab) doing adequate number of tests nor are you able to promptly isolate the positive people," he said at a press conference.

Punjab has been recording a high case positivity rate of 8.82 per cent, the Health ministry said

Kakkaji · Post by **Kakkaji** » 31 Mar 2021 03:28

Only in a few cases people contracted COVID-19 after taking vaccines: Health Minister

Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan Tuesday said that there are only a few rare cases where people have contracted COVID-19 after taking vaccines.

"Even if someone tests positive after taking vaccines, it minimalizes the chances of their hospitalization or admission to ICU wards," he said

Both Indian vaccines are safe and effective. A lot of people still have doubts regarding vaccines. I urge them not to believe what is being circulated in WhatsApp university, he added.

Kakkaji · Post by **Kakkaji** » 31 Mar 2021 07:26

Covid-19: To avoid lockdown, states must step up RT-PCR testing; Centre must free up vaccine pricing

While the state’s test-numbers have increased sharply, data from Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation shows that, over the past 10 days, the increase in Mumbai has largely been on the back of rapid antigen tests (RATs). RATs’ share jumped from just a quarter at the start of March to more than 50% over March 22-28. The data also shows that while RAT-positivity is around 7%, that for RT-PCR is close to 25%.

This means continuing with increased deployment of RAT will mean that a large number of cases get masked, and the state gets set up for another surge once restrictions are eased. States, including Maharashtra, must now ensure a 75% share for RT-PCR at the very least in their testing (as recommended by the Centre). Rigorous contact tracing of positive cases—especially in areas with a high degree of RAT positivity, which means a high likelihood of a great many number of cases getting missed—will also need to be done.

Beyond this, the states need to step up vaccination efforts, especially in high-incidence districts. As per Our World In Data, the seven-day rolling average for daily vaccine doses administered in the country was 1.8 million on March 29; at this rate, covering the remainder of the population would take more than two years!

To that end, the health ministry did well to speak of the need to increase private sector involvement in its weekly briefing on Tuesday. But, the fact is states have little maneuvering room on this, since the Centre’s price capping—vaccination costs are capped at `250 in private hospitals—and reluctance to leave distribution to the open market act as serious disincentives for the private sector to be invested in the effort. This is where the Centre must get its act together.

RajD · Post by **RajD** » 31 Mar 2021 20:23

Beware guys. Even vaccination doesn't seem to save you. My mother's fast friend, my 83 year old mausi passed away just two hours back after she had been admitted to ICU a week back due to confirmed covid infection and subsequent drastic fall in her platelet count. She had been vaccinated with COVISHIELD almost month back and her second dose was due when she had to be hospitalized. She had comorbidities like hypertension, diabetes and possibly some cardiac problems too. Vaccination was supposed to at least lessen severity of the infection, alas...Requesting gurus to throw some light on efficacy of the first version of vaccine against new variants which are supposed to be wrecking havoc and also, how significant is the role of comorbidities in relation to covid.
Regards.

Ambar · Post by **Ambar** » 31 Mar 2021 20:51

RajD, I am sorry for your loss, may she attain sadgati. As with all vaccines, there will be exceptions. A person who is 83 with severe comorbities will be at a very high risk, and even with vaccination her body's immune system may still succumb to serious infection. None of the vaccines so far have claimed to prevent 100% chance of death or hospitalization but they have all proved to have significantly reduced the chance of death and hospitalization.

As for contracting Covid after vaccination, we all know someone in our social circles who have come down with covid after the 1st dose . I think it is primarily due to lack of social distancing in many of the vaccine centers but also the general callousness which follows thinking vaccine makes them immune from the virus, so they drop all precautions. I keep a close eye on the regional and local newspapers that provide a more detailed breakdown of hospitalizations, critical cases and deaths, and so far the numbers are below what we saw last summer. Yes, we are in early flu months so it is hard to say if the cases and fatalities will remain at this level until August/Sept. Usually the onset of monsoon begins to taper the flu season in India, so people will have to remain vigilant atleast until August vaccine or no vaccine.

RajD · Post by **RajD** » 31 Mar 2021 22:27

@Ambarji,
I appreciate your sensitivities and accept your condolences with heavy heart.
I fully agree with your views.
Thanks.

Uttam · Post by **Uttam** » 31 Mar 2021 23:10

Another 13 lakhs will 7 PM today. Total now 6.43 crores.

There seems to be a pattern for last two days. 13 lakhs till 7 PM and then another 7 lakhs (or maybe there is a delay in capturing data) by 8 AM then following day. So a total of about 20 lakhs. That's slow for India's potential. Hopefully, we will see a big jump starting tomorrow as 45+ start vaccination.

Suraj · Post by **Suraj** » 31 Mar 2021 23:13

1.34 million on Wednesday by 7pm. Total 64.3 million. Should accelerate a lot starting Thursday as eligibility widens .

Zynda · Post by **Zynda** » 31 Mar 2021 23:14

It seems like the story is repeating again in KAR...most ICU beds in BLR hospitals are running out...BBMP has reactivated CCCs again...I guess for BSY, he is busy trying to put out in-fighting fires within KarBJP...so Covid control may not be his top priority now. Anyways, he has said that & he is aware that all the urge to follow Covid norms are just lip service...further for some reason BSY thinks that keeping schools open is beneficial wrt Covid control and there is absolutely NO chance of lock down

Zynda · Post by **Zynda** » 01 Apr 2021 01:30

Nearly 500 Children Tested Positive For COVID-19 This Month In Bengaluru

Bengaluru: Karnataka's capital, Bengaluru, is seeing a huge surge in the COVID-19 numbers and children are not being spared in this spike. As per the data released on Tuesday evening, Of the nearly 2,000 positive cases, 50 were children under the age of ten years. Around 500 children have tested positive for the highly contagious virus so far this month.

The city corporation, however, says there is no real surge in the cases among the very young.

"Since March 1, we have tested nearly 32,000 school students. Out of this, only 121 tested positive - just .38 per cent (of total cases). So, we can clearly say that children are not infected in large numbers in Bengaluru," Manjunath Prasad, the outgoing Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) Commissioner, told NDTV.

He said the group which is getting affected in the city is between the age of "20 to 40 years".

The reopening of schools for some grades makes the situation different from last year when cases increased in the first wave. At that time, a lockdown was in place and schools were closed. Additionally, children are out of the house now more often now as compared to the days of the lockdown.

Karnataka Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa had made it clear that despite the rising numbers, the schools would stay open.

"If children come to school they will be in one place with discipline. If they are at home they will be mixing with everybody. It is good for schools to continue from the point of view of control. Exams will be held in 15 days," said Mr Yediyurappa.

Mr Prasad felt the same. "The situation does not warrant closing of schools for now," he said.

However, not all students and parents are convinced.

Kanchana was picking up her child from school when she told NDTV, "Better to close the school - we should take care. And there are aged persons at home. "

Viriksha, a student, said, "In our school, social distancing is not being maintained. There are more corona cases and they are not testing also."

With Covid protocols not always observed, everyone is vulnerable - and that includes the youngest members of our society.

What is the reasoning behind opening up schools?

Kakkaji · Post by **Kakkaji** » 01 Apr 2021 05:15

Brazil regulator flags safety issues in Covaxin production, denies certificate

Brazil’s health regulator has rejected an application to give Bharat Biotech’s Covaxin a certificate of Good Manufacturing Practices following an inspection of the company’s site in Hyderabad earlier this month. The move, which does not affect Bharat Biotech’s application for emergency use authorisation of the vaccine in Brazil, could potentially still delay its ability to supply doses of the Covid-19 vaccine to the country until the issue is resolved.

Major issues flagged include safety-related observations that the company had not validated the method of analysis to prove complete inactivation of the virus (to prove that it was killed). According to ANVISA, considering that Covaxin is an inactivated vaccine, the company needs to ensure that the virus was completely inactivated, otherwise live SARS-CoV-2 viruses may be present in the vaccine.

The regulator also felt that the company was not taking all the necessary precautions to guarantee the product’s sterility and a lack of adequate control strategies to guarantee the vaccine’s purity.

Other observations were that the company does not use a specific control method to quantify the antigen content and potency of the vaccine. The vaccine may have variations in antigen content and consequently compromise its effectiveness, according to the regulator.

Precisa Medicamentos presented an action plan on March 17 to resolve these issues, but the measures effectively adopted so far have not been sufficient to mitigate the risks associated with the non conformities indicated, according to ANVISA.

Question for Pharma Gurus:

Is this just smoke, or are these serious violations?

In any case, I think the GoI should quickly send its own inspectors to the plant concerned, so that the mind of the public can be put at ease.

Personally, I don't care if not a single dose of Covaxin is exported, as long as they can produce enough of doses with assured quality, for the population of India.

Suraj · Post by **Suraj** » 01 Apr 2021 05:49

That is such a strange article. It explicitly states something self-contradictory:

The move, which does not affect Bharat Biotech’s application for emergency use authorisation of the vaccine in Brazil, could potentially still delay its ability to supply doses of the Covid-19 vaccine to the country until the issue is resolved.

Basically the article says "there's no problem with authorization" but {insert scary sounding dont-know-if-the-facility-actually-creates-a-proper-vaccine sensationalist language}.

I'm no pharma person but it sounds ridiculous. If there was a question of efficacy and manufacturing defect, literally the first thing to do is pull use authorization. It sounds like someone's either paperwork happy or trying to throw someone else under the bus.

sanjaykumar · Post by **sanjaykumar** » 01 Apr 2021 06:02

What are Brazil’s qualifications in pharmaceutical manufacturing? Especially vaccines.

Atmavik · Post by **Atmavik** » 01 Apr 2021 06:03

^^^ the more i read such articles seems like media is the darkest of the dark arts

saip · Post by **saip** » 01 Apr 2021 07:46

J&J too is facing quality control issues at Baltimore plant - CNN

Suraj · Post by **Suraj** » 01 Apr 2021 09:03

Uttam wrote:Another 13 lakhs will 7 PM today. Total now 6.43 crores.

There seems to be a pattern for last two days. 13 lakhs till 7 PM and then another 7 lakhs (or maybe there is a delay in capturing data) by 8 AM then following day. So a total of about 20 lakhs. That's slow for India's potential. Hopefully, we will see a big jump starting tomorrow as 45+ start vaccination.

1.94 million on the last day of Phase 2. Total 65 million.

mappunni · Post by **mappunni** » 01 Apr 2021 09:37

Kakkaji wrote:Brazil regulator flags safety issues in Covaxin production, denies certificate

Brazil’s health regulator has rejected an application to give Bharat Biotech’s Covaxin a certificate of Good Manufacturing Practices following an inspection of the company’s site in Hyderabad earlier this month. The move, which does not affect Bharat Biotech’s application for emergency use authorisation of the vaccine in Brazil, could potentially still delay its ability to supply doses of the Covid-19 vaccine to the country until the issue is resolved.

Major issues flagged include safety-related observations that the company had not validated the method of analysis to prove complete inactivation of the virus (to prove that it was killed). According to ANVISA, considering that Covaxin is an inactivated vaccine, the company needs to ensure that the virus was completely inactivated, otherwise live SARS-CoV-2 viruses may be present in the vaccine.

The regulator also felt that the company was not taking all the necessary precautions to guarantee the product’s sterility and a lack of adequate control strategies to guarantee the vaccine’s purity.

Other observations were that the company does not use a specific control method to quantify the antigen content and potency of the vaccine. The vaccine may have variations in antigen content and consequently compromise its effectiveness, according to the regulator.

Precisa Medicamentos presented an action plan on March 17 to resolve these issues, but the measures effectively adopted so far have not been sufficient to mitigate the risks associated with the non conformities indicated, according to ANVISA.
Question for Pharma Gurus:

Is this just smoke, or are these serious violations?

In any case, I think the GoI should quickly send its own inspectors to the plant concerned, so that the mind of the public can be put at ease.

Personally, I don't care if not a single dose of Covaxin is exported, as long as they can produce enough of doses with assured quality, for the population of India.

Hope this answers the questions about this article:

UPDATE 1-Brazil prosecutors seek to stop purchase of Indian vaccine

https://www.reuters.com/article/health- ... SL1N2KW2OK

Sonugn · Post by **Sonugn** » 01 Apr 2021 11:31

Crossed 70000 cases per day.

Seems second wave will be much larger. (Festivals, elections etc.).

PS Kumbh 2021 is also going on.

Anoop.G · Post by **Anoop.G** » 01 Apr 2021 11:58

I got my vaccine today. I was the only one there when I reached. Within 5 mins everything was done and was resting in the observation area biding my time. By the time I got done and ready to walk out, there were over 40 people waiting. I guess I was lucky!!
I was ambivalent to which vaccine I take and this private hospital offered Covaxin now. This new 100+ bed hospital is right next to my place and I had walked over earlier a month ago for the vax but they wouldn't vaccinate without authorisation. They were then administering Covidsheild.
Today I went to the same hospital and found they switched to Covaxin about 3 weeks ago.
I talked to the doc in charge there while in observation...
I am told by him that this change of Vaccine is due to greater supply of Covaxin after the end of the trials, people expressing disappointment with receiving Covidsheild (though no one had refused Covidsheild) and the shift of Covidsheild for exports since there is greater acceptibility globally of the AZ vaccine.
Take it for whatever it's worth!

AkshaySG · Post by **AkshaySG** » 01 Apr 2021 12:46

Don't think getting defensive about Bharat Biotech/Covaxin and questioning Brazil's competency in this matter is the right idea

We've laughed when Brazil criticized Sinovax so to get all angry at their standards now is a bit hypocritical

The fact remains that BB didn't trial is vaccine in as many stages as is needed for normal authorizations and is still under "emergency" authorization, as such some questions are bound to be asked, Now these aren't normal times and it may have been too much of a risk to delay production to do another round of trials but it is still important to get all doubts clarified

An thorough inspection of their facilities and closer monitoring of the process wouldn't hurt and its something that pretty much every vaccine has had to face

AstraZeneca was banned by several EU nations for "blood clots"
Sinovac has faced issues in pretty much every country its been exported to

Sputnik V faced trial concerns

J&J has to halt shipments of 15 million doses because of an ingredient mixup at their Baltimore Plant

Its not surprising that a fast rollout such as this with companies and countries bidding for global market would run into roadblocks and issues, What's more important is how we address them

The sooner all doubts are cleared the better it is