Wuhan Coronavirus Resource Thread

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sivab
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Re: Wuhan Coronavirus Resource Thread

Post by sivab »

https://twitter.com/gauravcsawant/statu ... 6621666306

GAURAV C SAWANT
@gauravcsawant
Replying to
@gauravcsawant
35.6 crore dozes procured
6 crore under PM cares.
GAVI: 1 crore used.
PHASE II: 12 crore
10 crore Covishield
2 crore: Covaxin
PHASE III: 16 crore doze
11: Covishield
5 crore: Covaxin (in process)
16 crore more dozes (States & Pvt Hosp) in pipeline.
Total by July: 51.6 crore dozes
510million doses by July is very good.
nandakumar
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Re: Wuhan Coronavirus Resource Thread

Post by nandakumar »

Amber G. wrote:
nandakumar wrote: I am hearing stories from people in the friends circle and extended family that they contracted Covid infections despite having had two shots of vaccine. Granted that vaccination is not proof against infection the interesting thing is such instances have come predominantly from those who have had Covishield. This was confirmed by a doctor relative of mine. I wonder if there are exhaustive data on infection among vaccinated individuals and the distribution between the two vaccines currently available.
Don't know about "exhaustive" part ( :) ) but of course there is lot of data which is being studied (and unfortunately people are putting "spin" and sometimes outright silly "analysis" in media). From what I have seen the data / or analysis by people who I respect the bottom line is Vaccines are extremely effective specially for saving a trip to hospital or death. The data (for academic purpose) for different vaccines may be "interesting" but it is clear that both in USA and India - *all* vaccines have been very effective. My take (from the verified data and analysis) :

- If you have taken only one shot and two weeks have passed - Probability for testing positive (or showing symptoms) is about 50% lower.
(Pfizer and Moderna numbers may be a little higher but practically irrelevant)
- Two/three weeks after the all doses ( 65- 95%) less probability that you will catch a virus vs non-vaccinated individual.
(Again - we are comparing oranges with oranges - *vaccine* is *not* the only factor - sometimes ignored in anecdotal evidences - A person with vaccine may be in higher probability if he is out without a mask or his immune system is compromised, or run into B117 type virus in comparison to a healthy person who is in quarantine )

What is encouraging is the morbidity (or serious illness) data - among fully vaccinated individuals (Both here in USA or in India) it is very small (deaths verified due to infection only) - Numbers I have seen is something like (.02% for morbidity and single digit for serious illness). Fortunately this is true also for variants which are in India/USA.

This is true for all the vaccines (Covidshield, Covaxin, Pfizer, Moderna, J&J) -- More data for some, little less data/confidence for others but bottom line they are extremely encouraging.

(Disclaimer - The above is my take based upon what I have read - take it for what ever it's worth)
Thanks. That is putting me and many others in my immediate family at ease. We all enrolled at the first opportunity when it was opened up for those above 60. At that time Covishield was the only option which we took. After a few cases in the immediate circle we all began to wonder if we were at all protected. We mostly stay at home but still can't completely avoid social interaction. Hence the doubt.
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Re: Wuhan Coronavirus Resource Thread

Post by sanjayc »

India Moves to Vaccinate All Citizens by Year-End, 216 Crore Doses To Be Available From August To December

India will have enough doses to inoculate all citizens by December, the head of the national task force on Covid-19 vaccines said on Thursday, dangling the prospect of a final victory against a virus that is now devastating homes and families across the country.

Between August and December, Niti Aayog member Dr Vinod Kumar Paul said, 216 crore vaccine doses would become available, which means that there would be surplus doses after every Indian is vaccinated.

“Overall, 216 crore doses of vaccines will be manufactured in India between August and December, for India and for Indians. There should be no doubt that vaccines will be available for all as we move forward,” he said at a press briefing.

Paul mentioned eight vaccines — a significant increase from the two currently in use — and the number of doses for each that are likely to be available in the country of 130 crore people in the five-month period ending December.
https://www.news18.com/news/india/india ... 35458.html

Modi should have come on TV and announced this to the people to calm them down. Would have had a huge impact as people would have been able to see the crisis ending in another six months. Strange this important announcement is being made by a faceless bureaucrat.
raj-senthil
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Re: Wuhan Coronavirus Resource Thread

Post by raj-senthil »

Q.How soon can we expect this drug (2DG) in the market?

A. We are working with them (Dr Reddy’s) on the timelines. The first lot should be coming into the market in two-three days, but in limited quantity. A larger quantity will take probably about three weeks’ time.

Q.Are you saying you will have 500 oxygen-generating plants in hospitals across the country in the next three months? What is DRDO’s role in this project?

Right now, PMCares has given funds for 500 such plants, of which industry will produce 120 with the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), while 380 will come from DRDO factories—primarily the original technology partner, Trident Pneumatics, Coimbatore. The remaining units will be provided by Tata Advanced Systems Ltd. We want to deliver these units as fast as possible. Four days back, the first two units were installed, one at RML and the other at AIIMS. The rollout will start slowly and then pick up. We expect all 500 plants to be fully operational by July 31.
chetak
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Re: Wuhan Coronavirus Resource Thread

Post by chetak »

The same gagandeep gang who fuelled doubts and cast aspersions on Covaxin and its approval right from Jan 2021, is going to help you with vaccination strategy.

slimy salim would have been a better choice than this doubting thomas anti-vaxxer who carried out a sly campaign against BB's covaxin

she is a card carrying member of the bif.





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Atmavik
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Re: Wuhan Coronavirus Resource Thread

Post by Atmavik »

^^^ these buggers have blood on their hands. Hope someone takes a PIL to court against these media bafoons
sanjayc
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Re: Wuhan Coronavirus Resource Thread

Post by sanjayc »

This lady is part of Congress ecosystem. Her Twitter handle full of mocking Modi and glorifying RG. Cong ecosystem attacking Covaxin from day 1 to sow doubts about India's indigenous vaccine so that Indians prefer vaccines of American pharma companies. Looks like lot of money changed hands and Americans were generous. Synchronized tweets by Congress politicians against Covaxin were not a coincidence.

As an aside, Kejri's daily complaints of shortage of oxygen in Delhi have suddenly disappeared after center ordered an oxygen audit for the city. Now, Kejri saying total demand for Delhi is just 582 MT (though last week he was demanding first 700MT and then increased it to 976 MT as the minimum required)
vijayk
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Re: Wuhan Coronavirus Resource Thread

Post by vijayk »

Bart S wrote:
vijayk wrote:
Wondering why such low number for Nasal vaccine? Why can't we ramp it up? We can administer it easily
Probably to do with BB's process for making the vaccines which rely on actual virus that has been inactivated, something that is difficult to mass produce as easily as some of the newer techniques like mRNA.

It's easy to say 'ramp up' but its a lot harder to do. For one it takes money to build BSL3 facilities. Second, it takes time, those facilities don't come up overnight. Thirdly, even if unlimited supplies of money, land, buildings, regulatory approvals etc are available, it takes skilled people to build and staff these production lines and this is the biggest bottleneck.
Understand all of this but we need to take some risks by looking at the data every couple of weeks.

Govt. should invest to build them now and see how we can scale up based on the experience we had with second wave. If we start now, these facilities might be ready by Nov because BSL4 facilities started in Nov 20 just came on board.

May be we can plan ahead on what is needed to convert some of the existing facilities ... May be start stock piling materials needed early on.

A friend of mine worked at Corning and they were manufacturing vials with federal money last Sept at rapid pace even before approvals came in. Unfortunately, Indian mentality is we look for things at the last minute.

Also remember spray means few drops but we need pack so that one bottle can serve many folks if there is a replaceable nozzle.

We need redundant strategies.
Rudradev
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Re: Wuhan Coronavirus Resource Thread

Post by Rudradev »

Kang is a moron.

Yes, using whole inactivated virus is EXACTLY why Covaxin will continue to work against mutant strains.

Again. The way vaccines work is by training the immune system to recognize specific structures, or "epitopes", on the virus and then target these epitopes as the sites for attacking the virus.

A mutation may cause changes in the structure of one epitope. The 17 mutations in B.1.117, as detailed earlier, may cause changes in the structure of up to 8 epitopes. This is like a few structural features of a fighter plane being modified to decrease its visibility on radar. But it is NOT the same as a whole stealth fighter airframe being designed from scratch.

Some mRNA vaccines may train the immune system only to recognize a subset of the total epitopes available on a virus. If these specific epitopes happen to undergo structural changes as a result of mutations, then it is possible that an mRNA vaccine (which largely depends on recognition of that subset of epitopes) may be less effective at training the immune system to target them.

But if a WHOLE virus is used to train the immune system there will always be more potential epitopes for the immune system to recognize than the subset(s) of epitopes that mutations can cover up. It doesn't matter if the whole virus is from an earlier strain. The similarities between that old virus and any mutated strain of the virus, will be far more (by several orders of magnitude) than the differences.

Kang is just attempting to spread FUD baselessly.
vijayk
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Re: Wuhan Coronavirus Resource Thread

Post by vijayk »

Rudradev wrote:Kang is a moron.

Yes, using whole inactivated virus is EXACTLY why Covaxin will continue to work against mutant strains.

Again. The way vaccines work is by training the immune system to recognize specific structures, or "epitopes", on the virus and then target these as the sites for attacking the virus.

A mutation may cause changes in the structure of one epitope. The 17 mutations in B.1.117, as detailed earlier, may cause changes in the structure of up to 8 epitopes. This is like a few structural features of a fighter plane being modified to decrease its visibility on radar. But it is NOT the same as a whole stealth fighter airframe being designed from scratch.

Some mRNA vaccines may train the immune system only to recognize a subset of the total epitopes available on a virus. If these specific epitopes happen to undergo structural changes as a result of mutations, then it is possible that the mRNA vaccine (which depends on recognition of that subset of epitopes) may be less effective at training the immune system to target them.

But if a WHOLE virus is used to train the immune system there will always be more potential epitopes for the immune system to recognize than the subset(s) of epitopes that mutations can cover up. It doesn't matter if the whole virus is from an earlier strain. The similarities between that old virus and any mutated strain of the virus, will be far more (by several orders of magnitude) than the differences.

Kang is just attempting to spread FUD baselessly.
She did her work. She spread the FUD. Scums in print/NYT/WaPo/BBC carried the FUD. People refused to get the vaccines.
Bart S
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Re: Wuhan Coronavirus Resource Thread

Post by Bart S »

Rudradev wrote:Kang is a moron.
No she is not a moron. She is one of the top researchers in her field in the country and a leading expert on rotaviruses and a key player in the first rotavirus vaccine being developed (ironically by Bharat Biotech). So she can't be a moron or that ignorant in her own field of work.

She is probably intellectually and morally bankrupt due to her political blinkers and hatred for Modi and knew quite well what she was doing when she was spreading FUD and misinformation.

Once the efficacy of Covaxin was proved beyond doubt she appeared to back down on that position and supported its usage.

Another fact that is probably not well known is that she is closely associated with the Baylor College of Medicine, which has their own vaccine candidate being developed with another Indian company and she might have had some vested interest due to that as well.
Last edited by Bart S on 14 May 2021 02:23, edited 1 time in total.
Rudradev
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Re: Wuhan Coronavirus Resource Thread

Post by Rudradev »

All right, then she is just a plain old-fashioned liar who cannot even plead ignorance.
Kakkaji
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Re: Wuhan Coronavirus Resource Thread

Post by Kakkaji »

Today's official vaccination numbers:

COVID-19 Vaccination Update- Day 118
India’s Cumulative Vaccination Coverage steadily nearing the 18 Cr mark

Over 4.37 lakh beneficiaries of age group 18-44 Vaccinated today till 8 pm

More than 19.75 lakh vaccine doses administered today

The cumulative number of COVID-19 vaccine doses administered in the country stands at 17,91,77,029 as per the 8 pm provisional report today.

4,37,192 beneficiaries of the age group 18-44 years received their first dose of COVID vaccine today and cumulatively 39,14,688 across 32 States/UTs since the start of Phase-3 of the vaccination drive.

As on Day-118 of the vaccination drive (13th May, 2021), total 19,75,176 vaccine doses were given. 10,10,856 beneficiaries were vaccinated for 1st dose and 9,64,320 beneficiaries received 2nd dose of vaccine as per the provisional report till 8 P.M
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Re: Wuhan Coronavirus Resource Thread

Post by sanjayc »

That just makes Kang a charlatan with no ethical values -- she can shove her medical knowledge where the sun doesn't shine. She was unconcerned about what effect her fear mongering will have on common people who will start shunning vaccines, as long as she could hit against Indian vaccine. She kept mum about Western vaccines.
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Re: Wuhan Coronavirus Resource Thread

Post by sanjayc »

From “BJP vaccine” to urging people not to take shots, Media and Opp. led to empty Centres, reveals research

So poisonous was the campaign against vaccination in Lutyens Media, Opposition and its digital lackeys that India’s population at large avoided taking the shot in initial months, a careful collating of research has revealed.

From Akhilesh Yadav’s jibe that “BJP’s vaccine” to “not-confident-to-urge-people-for-vaccine by Chhatisgarh: to constant needling by Rahul Gandhi which led to the accusation that he was lobbying for Pharma companies etc, a concerted disinformation campaign led to poor turn-out at a vaccine centres, leading to criminal delay at inoculation besides wastage of millions of vaccine doses.

An IITian’s (@vbanno) research has been highlighted on twitter by one Sharad Bishnoi who claims that since the vaccination plan was rolled out on January 15, “the intelligentsia, non-BJP political parties, NGOs all started speaking in the media that there is insufficient date on its efficacy, it is fake and we will not get it done.”

The research has pointed out that the “media also launched a movement against the Indian vaccine.” In support, the research points out the number of times media published articles against the vaccine: Indian Express (182 times), Loksatta (172), Navbharat Times (236), Hindustan Times (123), Times of India (28), The Wire (78), The Print (59), The Scroll (122), Newslaundry (54), The Hindu (128) and AltNews (78).

Then comes the long list of Opposition leaders/political parties who spread venom against the vaccine: Congress (58), Samajwadi Party (17), Shiv Sena (27), DMK (13), CPM (12) and TMC (12).

NGOs were no better. Founders and employees of 265 major NGOs spoke against the vaccine. No less tan 172 retired IAS, IPS, judges and other government officials also came out against the vaccine. No less than 342 cartoons were produced in opposition to the vaccine.

This led to fear and confusion among the masses. They began to believe that “vaccine is not safe and hence is not to be taken. When vaccination began from 15 Jan, only a few people used to come to the vaccine centres. On a couple of days, some vaccination centres reported only 2-3 vaccinations,” the thread on twitter reveals.

“If you look at the long lines for vaccines in Mumbai today, hundreds of people above 60 years are also seen.”

The research claims that somebody should go to these people above 60 years and ask them that since March when there were no crowds and vaccine doses were going waste, why did they not get the vaccination done then?

“Similarly, the HCWs (health care workers) and FLWs (Front Line Workers) now queuing up didn’t want it January onwards when it had opened up exclusively for them.”

The thread closes with the assertion that but for the fear created by these newspapers and politicians, “several million doses of vaccines were wasted, new orders were delayed, production capacity expansion didn’t take place.”

“Today, these same agitators/protestors against the vaccine are going to get vaccinated quietly,” the thread concludes.
https://www.newsbred.com/article/from-b ... s-research
ManSingh
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Re: Wuhan Coronavirus Resource Thread

Post by ManSingh »

Bart S wrote:
Rudradev wrote:Kang is a moron.
No she is not a moron. She is one of the top researchers in her field in the country and a leading expert on rotaviruses and a key player in the first rotavirus vaccine being developed (ironically by Bharat Biotech). So she can't be a moron or that ignorant in her own field of work.

She is probably intellectually and morally bankrupt due to her political blinkers and hatred for Modi and knew quite well what she was doing when she was spreading FUD and misinformation.

Once the efficacy of Covaxin was proved beyond doubt she appeared to back down on that position and supported its usage.

Another fact that is probably not well known is that she is closely associated with the Baylor College of Medicine, which has their own vaccine candidate being developed with another Indian company and she might have had some vested interest due to that as well.
Disregarding her political affiliation or ideology, all she questioned was the absence of phase-3 trial data before the vaccine was approved for use. It is a very selective posting of parts of her interview ( with a newspaper not very popular on this forum ) by the original poster.

Here is the another portion of the same article:

“I have no problem with volunteering for the Covaxin trial, because I think it is potentially a good vaccine, but unfortunately CMC Vellore is not a centre. I would go through the process as a volunteer and could get a vaccine or placebo and I am fine with that because I would be contributing to the generation of scientific data that would inform vaccine development,”

How does it help to drag a forum like this to twitter-esque level of debate?
Suraj
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Re: Wuhan Coronavirus Resource Thread

Post by Suraj »

ManSingh wrote:Disregarding her political affiliation or ideology, all she questioned was the absence of phase-3 trial data before the vaccine was approved for use. It is a very selective posting of parts of her interview ( with a newspaper not very popular on this forum ) by the original poster.
She specifically stated that the haste was unnecessary because Covid is not a very infectious disease with a very high chance of death - a statement that has aged very poorly, while simultaneously discounting the waves elsewhere that killed so many even before the 2nd wave in India.
ManSingh wrote:“I have no problem with volunteering for the Covaxin trial, because I think it is potentially a good vaccine, but unfortunately CMC Vellore is not a centre. I would go through the process as a volunteer and could get a vaccine or placebo and I am fine with that because I would be contributing to the generation of scientific data that would inform vaccine development,”
How does it help to drag a forum like this to twitter-esque level of debate?
Her argument is political and quite likely professional lack of ethics - since she's not on the NEGVAC SEC, she instead questions what they do. EVERY vaccine in use today is being used in a manner no vaccine has been in modern history. The entire vaccination process worldwide is just a Phase 3b with 8 billion candidates.

Covaxin was approved in restricted clinical trial mode - requiring a consent form just as those doing an early trial sign - until Phase 3 trials were done. That's something everyone did - even the PM.

As an inactivated whole virion vaccine - a proven long standing vaccine technology - the NEGVAC made an informed decision, and it was the right one. Her argument at that time - that the haste was unjustified - was wrong then, and more so now.

If she desires to be treated as a professional, her response better be a professional one. A carefully considered argument about the tradeoffs in a medical report form, yes. A story in a newspaper, no. Medical policy is not conducted using the press.
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Re: Wuhan Coronavirus Resource Thread

Post by Amber G. »

Meanwhile - Here in USA (Ohio):
- In Ohio - Just to encourage you to get vaccine - get a vaccine and get a chance to win $1,000,000 (5 winners)
- This is in addition to about 5 *full* college tuition scholarships.
(Of course, there is *many* other free things from free coffee to free donuts and meals etc)
NO Lines on vaccinations - Open now to 12 years and UP.

And CDC Just issued their guidelines (which I think is not good):
Vaccinated people need not have masks (except in planes, busses and hospitals and things like that) - indoor or outdoor.
I just saw the data for one clinic - 99.7 % of their covid patients are from the unvaccinated group.
(USA still has some ways to go before 70-80% population gets vaccinated.
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Re: Wuhan Coronavirus Resource Thread

Post by Kakkaji »

BIBCOL to manufacture 2 crore doses of Covaxin every month in UP
The Centre has given its nod for manufacturing Covaxin, the country’s indigenous vaccine being manufactured by Hyderabad-based Bharat Biotech, by BIBCOL at its plant in Uttar Pradesh. The company would be manufacturing 2 crore doses of Covaxin every month. The Union Health Ministry will provide Rs 30 crore to BIBCOL for the production.

Speaking to FE, Sunil Kumar Sharma, associate vice- president, BIBCOL, said the project is still in its initial stages and details regarding technology transfer, equipment and facilities are being worked out.

“We should have a clearer picture in about a month’s time,” he said, adding that if things go smoothly, the company should start manufacturing the vaccines by September-October this year. The company, at present, manufactures oral polio vaccines and zinc tablets at its facility.
This shows that even where money, facility, and skilled people are available, it takes a few months to be able to start production of the vaccine. It is not simple plug and play as some opposition politicians are making it out to be.
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Re: Wuhan Coronavirus Resource Thread

Post by Atmavik »

Amber G. wrote:Meanwhile - Here in USA (Ohio):

Vaccinated people need not have masks (except in planes, busses and hospitals and things like that) - indoor or outdoor.
I just saw the data for one clinic - 99.7 % of their covid patients are from the unvaccinated group.
(USA still has some ways to go before 70-80% population gets vaccinated.

mass vaccination sites are taking walk ins and there are signs on highways to take exit for vaccine. i know a few friends parents who are here as visitors and got the vaccine by showing their passport.


the no mask order is a political stunt. i will continue to wear a mask for some more time.
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Re: Wuhan Coronavirus Resource Thread

Post by Kakkaji »

Some numbers

216 cr vaccine doses to be available in 5 months between Aug-Dec, enough to cover all: Centre
He said that so far 35.6 crore vaccine doses have been either procured or are in the process of procurement by the Centre.

Giving a detailed break-up, he said under the PM-Cares Fund, 6.6 crore (5.6 crore Covishield and 1 crore Covaxin) doses have been procured and utilised, while 1 crore Covishield doses have been received and utilised under the Gavi COXAV facility.

Under phase II, 12 crore (10 crore Covishield and 2 crore Covaxin) doses are being procured, he said, adding of these, 86 per cent doses have been received while the rest are expected by the end of this month.

Under phase III, he said, 16 crore (11 crore Covishield and 5 crore Covaxin) doses are being procured. The supply for these doses will begin from May 21 and continue through July.

Separately, 16 crore additional doses are in the pipeline which are being procured directly by the states and private hospitals, he said. "So, overall, 51.6 crore doses are being procured."
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Re: Wuhan Coronavirus Resource Thread

Post by yensoy »

A high rank IAS officer should have been appointed on Special Duty at SII and at BB to understand the exact situation and report back to PMO, as long as there was an ongoing contract with GoI for vaccine manufacture. This officer should be sitting in on all key meetings, understanding the production process, cleared up any blockers and alerted PM/Health Ministry of any potential issues down the road. In order to get buy-in and cooperation, GoI would need to agree to some basic profit percentage and pricing deal with SII/BB below which no financial questions would be asked.
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Re: Wuhan Coronavirus Resource Thread

Post by Anujan »

https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101 ... 21252652v1

Single dose covidshield. All adults in England aged 70 years and older (over 7.5 million). Protection against symptomatic covid
With the ChAdOx1 vaccine, vaccine effects were seen from 14-20 days after vaccination reaching an effectiveness of 60% (95%CI 41-73%) from 28-34 days and further increasing to 73% (95%CI 27-90%) from day 35 onwards....Cases who had been vaccinated with one dose of ChAdOx1 had an additional 37% (95% CI 3-59%) lower risk of emergency hospitalisation....Combined with the effect against symptomatic disease, this indicates that a single dose of either vaccine is approximately 80% effective at preventing hospitalisation
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Re: Wuhan Coronavirus Resource Thread

Post by Atmavik »

The first tanker with 4.8 tonnes of medical grade oxygen leaving the Sterlite plant at 7.10 this morning.

A giant middle finger to the lobby that wanted to prevent this and watch more Indians die.


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Re: Wuhan Coronavirus Resource Thread

Post by sanjaykumar »

I don’t care much for politics but I do care for lives. All those who urged people not to be vaccinated need to have culpable homicide charges laid against them. Politicians, media, ngo, social media users.
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Re: Wuhan Coronavirus Resource Thread

Post by Atmavik »

sanjaykumar wrote:I don’t care much for politics but I do care for lives. All those who urged people not to be vaccinated need to have culpable homicide charges laid against them. Politicians, media, ngo, social media users.
why are the courts not pulling these idiots out? they seem to be interested in every other thing the GOI does
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Re: Wuhan Coronavirus Resource Thread

Post by Pratyush »

Thank god that Sterlite plant is back in use, if only for oxygen production.
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Re: Wuhan Coronavirus Resource Thread

Post by Pratyush »

Atmavik wrote: why are the courts not pulling these idiots out? they seem to be interested in every other thing the GOI does
The job of the opposition is to create obstacles in way of the government. The job of the government is to govern by over coming these obstructions. If the government could not over come vaccine hesitancy when it was created by opposition. Then it is a failure of the government.

The scale of the challenges faced by the government should be clear if you understand that depths to which the opposition is ready to go.
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Re: Wuhan Coronavirus Resource Thread

Post by disha »

Bart S wrote: Another fact that is probably not well known is that she is closely associated with the Baylor College of Medicine, which has their own vaccine candidate being developed with another Indian company and she might have had some vested interest due to that as well.
That makes Kang criminal liar. Causing deaths by seeding immune hesitancy. And BTW, Baylor university is into conversion. They offer "chapel studies" as an option to non-xtian students to reduce their fee burdens.
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Re: Wuhan Coronavirus Resource Thread

Post by disha »

ManSingh wrote:How does it help to drag a forum like this to twitter-esque level of debate?
ManSingh'ji, because of vaccine hesitancy people died. Are you supporting death of people? Instead of accusing this forum members of dragging this forum to "twitter-esque level of debate", why do not you think about people who died thanks to Kang and others.

If you think the rest of forum members are dragging this forum down, I have a request for you. Can you please list here all the people who seeded vaccine hesitancy? First you list those people. Then please defend them. I think it might foster some non-twitteresque debate
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Re: Wuhan Coronavirus Resource Thread

Post by disha »

Jay wrote:
disha wrote:
On Gates, please check out connections between Gates Foundation and its proxy in India an American NGO called PATH, GSK and Merck, UPA government and PATH in 2006. And cervical cancer and HPV vaccine.
Now this is getting into the realm of conspiracy theories. The connections between Bill Gates, his foundations, and the entities you are listing here prove Nothing, Nada, Zilch.

If he was conspiring with UPA regime, implying that he was anti Modi why did praise Modi and his governance in the past and tried to work with India? Below are a couple of example from a 10 sec google search.

https://swachhindia.ndtv.com/bill-gates ... ion-26276/

https://www.ndtv.com/india-news/bill-ga ... el-2335995

https://www.livemint.com/news/india/we- ... 61099.html

https://www.indiatoday.in/india/video/a ... 2021-01-05

Bill Gates at best is a capitalist dipping into convenient philanthropy and at worst is a capitalist that would not let go of any opportunities, however vulgar.
Jay, first of all, you give totally useless links to push your argument. For example, Gates kissing Modis' feet and praising swatch bharat campaign. Second an rNDTV (which is an anti-national news channel) talking about Gates kissing Modi's feet and praising India's digital finance. Then again you bring in Gates kissing Modi's feet for flattening the curve. And again Gates praising India's vaccine efforts and kissing Modi's feet.

In all of this, you do not wonder why Gates is kissing Modi's feet? But I let that wonderment for you to wonder.

One thing I do have to thank you is for following my suggestion and doing a search. But sir, you give it up so easily and call me a conspiracy theorist.

Let me give you the google search links on search terms "Gates PATH GSK Cervical cancer" and here are the links:

1. 2nd link from top: Indian Parliament Comes Down Hard on Cervical Cancer Trial ...https://www.sciencemag.org › news › 2013/09

2. 3rd link from top: https://m.economictimes.com/industry/he ... 280050.cms

I wonder why the Indian Parliament came down hard on Cervical Cancer Trial. The trial was supported by Bill Gates' org PATH with GSK.

I may be a conspiracy theorist according to you. Are the Indian parliamentarians as well? Or shall I claim that you are selectively picking up links to confirm to your bias and hence your biased search for information.

Okay, let me add to the search terms two more words: "gates path gsk cervical cancer ethical issues".

And here is the sixth link (the others are already reproduced above and I am ignoring similar links)

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25101547/

And what does the article published by NIH of USA say? Here is the quote:
To date, at least 254 women in unscreened control groups have died of cervical cancer. The United States Office for Human Research Protections (OHRP) determined that the subjects in the studies were not given adequate information for the purpose of providing informed consent. The determinations of the OHRP contradict assurances given by other American medical and bioethical leaders. CONCERNS: Defective scientific design required inadequate informed consent. US-funded measurements of death rates may have needlessly delayed development of indispensable, life-saving public health infrastructure. US-funded measurements of incidence and death rates proved to be scientifically irreproducible and unreliable. Predictably, nothing was learned from these measurements that was not already known. Statistical bias embedded in measurement of death rates yielded the absurd conclusion that Papanicolaou screening does not prevent cervical cancer, leading to a marketing campaign for a proprietary human papillomavirus (HPV) screening test unaffordable for the women among whom death rates had been measured. Inexplicably, measurements of death rates among unscreened women were continued even after the mortality benefit of screening had been confirmed. Quality management of NCI funded visual screening (VIA) in Mumbai failed catastrophically, with unsettling implications for VIA conducted by those with less expertise.
To you 254 women dying painfully because they needed to be in unscreened control groups is mere statistic and anybody pointing out to such an issue is a conspiracy theorist.

To me, those people are real. And Gates be damned. And all his followers too.
Zynda
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Re: Wuhan Coronavirus Resource Thread

Post by Zynda »

Has SIi & BB vaccine outputs dipped compared to a couple of months ago? Or has the vaccine demand shot up suddenly? Back in Jan, SII was saying that by March end, a new plant will be online and output will be increased. Then there was the fire incident in late Jan. There was no talk about new timeline until early to mid April and then the new timeline of June end to early July and now it seems like August before peak production. There were factors unanticipated like restrictions on raw material supplies from both US & EU, but I still feel like GoI did not plan properly early on. Perhaps, they got complacent by current thinking at that time which pointed to less likely chance of 2nd wave and with Covid cases decreasing, GoI thought we can take our time in ramping.

Anyways, now BBMP is saying that things will get better in Bangalore only in July.
Jab, interrupted
Posting excerpts...
July will be better
The struggle to find a slot for vaccination on CoWin is likely to continue for at least two months. Chief Secretary Ravi Kumar P on Thursday said that the availability of vaccine is likely to increase only from July but it would take years to vaccinate the entire population of the state.

“So far, the state has received 1 crore doses of vaccine since January. We need 6.5 crore doses of vaccine considering each person requires two doses. We have placed orders for 3 crore doses (1 crore - Covaxin and 2 crore - CovidShield). We will be floating tenders for procuring another 2 crore doses from foreign manufacturers. We are however not sure when the manufacturers will start supplying as they have limited production capacity,” the Chief Secretary explained.

The government, he said, is talking to Dr Reddy’s Laboratories which has got a permission to produce Sputnik vaccine. He said 85 lakh people have got the first dose of vaccine and 25 lakh have got the second dose. The priority, he said, would be given to people who have not taken the second shot.

Officials said Serum Institute had promised to supply 15 lakh doses of vaccine but has supplied only eight lakh doses so far. Of the two lakh doses of vaccine to be supplied by Bharath Biotech (Covaxin), the manufacturer has supplied only 80,000.
I think what is happening is that both SII & BB have began production of states orders in a limited capacity.

Not gonna lie...feeling little jealous of US & Israel (barring the recent clashes & rocket attacks...even there it looked like protests & riots were like how it was in 2019)...but we are possibly looking at least another another year to year-half before we can do away with mask.
chetak
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Re: Wuhan Coronavirus Resource Thread

Post by chetak »

Over 216 crore doses of vaccines will be manufactured in India between August-December 2021 - for India & for Indians.

Additionally, other foreign Vaccine may also become available
via@PIB_India



Press Information Bureau. Nodal agency for communicating to media on behalf of #Government of #India. In Hindi: @pibhindi For Fact Check: @PIBFactCheck




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yensoy
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Re: Wuhan Coronavirus Resource Thread

Post by yensoy »

SII:BB was in ratio 5:1 historically; now it is closer to 3:2 which is pretty amazing for BB and speaks volumes of the inability of SII to scale up (or are they export commitments/input restrictions?).
VickyAvinash
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Re: Wuhan Coronavirus Resource Thread

Post by VickyAvinash »

Rudradev wrote:Kang is a moron.

Yes, using whole inactivated virus is EXACTLY why Covaxin will continue to work against mutant strains.

Again. The way vaccines work is by training the immune system to recognize specific structures, or "epitopes", on the virus and then target these epitopes as the sites for attacking the virus.

A mutation may cause changes in the structure of one epitope. The 17 mutations in B.1.117, as detailed earlier, may cause changes in the structure of up to 8 epitopes. This is like a few structural features of a fighter plane being modified to decrease its visibility on radar. But it is NOT the same as a whole stealth fighter airframe being designed from scratch.

Some mRNA vaccines may train the immune system only to recognize a subset of the total epitopes available on a virus. If these specific epitopes happen to undergo structural changes as a result of mutations, then it is possible that an mRNA vaccine (which largely depends on recognition of that subset of epitopes) may be less effective at training the immune system to target them.

Kang is just attempting to spread FUD baselessly.
Sir, with your permission, may I use above post/information on social media? Lot of people spreading lies, very few countering them.
nam
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Re: Wuhan Coronavirus Resource Thread

Post by nam »

A simple way to nullify hesitancy is announce, those who won't vaccinate will not be allocated hospital beds, if they fall sick.
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Re: Wuhan Coronavirus Resource Thread

Post by saumitra_j »

yensoy wrote:SII:BB was in ratio 5:1 historically; now it is closer to 3:2 which is pretty amazing for BB and speaks volumes of the inability of SII to scale up (or are they export commitments/input restrictions?).
Sir BB has a upward limit of 1 Billion Vaccines based on their contract with AZ and is dependent on other suppliers in the supply chain. BB has managed to create the significant parts of their supply chain within the country as far as I know.

Sources:
For AZ Contract
For BB Adjuvetants
saumitra_j
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Re: Wuhan Coronavirus Resource Thread

Post by saumitra_j »

Another article from 15th April on the need for sourcing parts from other countries.

Key points from the article:
Made-in-India Covid-19 vaccine Covaxin uses Kansas-based ViroVax’s Alhydroxiquim-II adjuvant which boosts immune response and provides longer-lasting immunity.

But according to a new report, the Hyderabad-based company Bharat Biotech, the producer of Covaxin is facing challenges in producing this adjuvant. This unexpected situation could hamper the vaccine maker’s plan to ramp up its capacity for Covaxin from the current 5 million doses each month to 12 million doses per month by July 2021.
Bharat Biotech is currently preparing to increase the vaccine production from its Bengaluru-based facility, which was set up to produce vaccines for animals. A senior government official earlier said that the vaccines for animals are not the immediate priority as the company wants to utilise the Bengaluru facility to boost the Covaxin production.
The US ban on export was clearly a huge problem and hats off to all the folks who negotiated a settlement with the US else we would have suffered for both Covaxin as well as Novavax and Covishield.
A source told Business Standard: “One of the reasons for the sluggish pace of the Covaxin production scale-up is the firm facing issues in sourcing the adjuvant from the United States.”

If there is a shortage of raw materials such as filters and bags, one can try to develop another vendor, but for chemicals as critical as adjuvants, the same formula cannot be applied, said the source.

“The vaccine, which is tested on volunteers and gets approved, is made with this adjuvant. Therefore, any change to this would lead to fresh clinical trials and fresh approvals,” the source further added.
Ella had said that many raw materials were imported to develop the vaccines, including preservatives for vaccines that are imported from Germany.

This is because India is not self-reliant in some of these raw materials required for the vaccine, said Ella.

However, in March the Hyderabad firm announced that it will work with the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) to develop technologies and platforms for novel vaccines, drugs and even raw material.
ManSingh
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Re: Wuhan Coronavirus Resource Thread

Post by ManSingh »

disha wrote:
ManSingh wrote:How does it help to drag a forum like this to twitter-esque level of debate?
ManSingh'ji, because of vaccine hesitancy people died. Are you supporting death of people? Instead of accusing this forum members of dragging this forum to "twitter-esque level of debate", why do not you think about people who died thanks to Kang and others.

If you think the rest of forum members are dragging this forum down, I have a request for you. Can you please list here all the people who seeded vaccine hesitancy? First you list those people. Then please defend them. I think it might foster some non-twitteresque debate
With all due respect, not sure how my post came across to you.

Yes vaccine hesitancy does kill. At a personal example, when I was searching for the answer about getting my folks vaccinated or not, I did ask around for the same question. At that point covid-19 spread was low. I can tell you that what I came across was a cacophony of one side calling the vaccine "Modi vaccine" and the other side "anti-nationals". Ultimately we did get covaxin shots almost at the end of the clinical trial mode and it did save the day ( parents got covid-19 a month later ).

Questions will be asked when a novel process is being followed. Even the best of the data scientists I know wasn't sure how this was being approached. A clinical trial is not a phase-3 though I understand the risk pay-off. Its best not to counter it with arguments (above)like "she was paid-off well by Pfizer" which you can read in the previous posts. This is what I meant by a twitter-esque debate and we hear this far too often. A technical counter or another formal explanation is more than sufficient.
Last edited by ManSingh on 14 May 2021 20:23, edited 1 time in total.
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