Wuhan Coronavirus Resource Thread

[DavidD]

Unfathomable why there is so much complexity in getting organised and administering vaccinations in EU even today, especially in France where 52M adults need to be vaccinated, which is a fraction of India's population. First vaccinations started around Jan 3rd, now 2 months later we are barely hitting 100K vaccinations/day.

Three vaccines for COVID-19 are authorised in France, 100% cost borne by social security :
Pfizer/BioNtech - Comirnaty® ;
COVID-19 Vaccine Moderna®;
Le COVID-19 Vaccine AstraZeneca®.

Healthcare workers were covered first, then they have covered old age nursing homes, now people 50-74 can get the vaccine after a preliminary doctor examination.

As per media reports:

France, via the European Commission, has pre-purchased 200 million doses of anti-Covid vaccines from different laboratories (68 million should be available by July 1). Several contracts have been signed by the European Commission: with the pharmaceutical companies BioNTech-Pfizer, Moderna, the American Johnson & Johnson, AstraZeneca, Sanofi-GSK, Janssen Pharmaceutica NV, and the German CureVac. France should benefit from the same vaccines as the other countries of the European Union. "The number of doses being distributed according to the population of each member state" recalled the President of the French Republic on November 24.

→ France has ordered 30 million doses of the Pfizer / BioNTech vaccine for deliveries until the fall of 2021. It should then receive 20 million doses until the end of the year, or 50 million in total.
→ France has pre-ordered 24 million doses of the Moderna vaccine expected in 2021.
→ France has pre-ordered 44 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine.

The French Govt has been announcing targets to X million vaccinated by this date etc and has been moving goalposts, and missing all of them so far. All 3 approved vaccines are sourced from production sites in EU plagued by production problems. Entire batches had to be throw out due to temperature control problems while scaling production in Belgium. France's target of 15M persons vaccinated by end of March will be surely missed. Latest target announced is 30 M by summer (1st dose ? Both doses?!! ) which is deliberately vague. The entire supply chain, preparation, mobilisation all have been screwed up needlessly, slowing down the pace considerably. The less said about the fkcups by the EU mandarins in Brussels the better. Hope French health authorities will pull up their socks won't wake up in a few weeks and discover they don't have required no of syringes etc.

No one wants to bring up the decay at Institut Pasteur, a pioneering research institute home to a bunch of Nobel laureates which produced vaccines against Anthrax, Rabies etc. failed to produce an m-RNA type vaccine like Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna - it seems they realised they were too far behind and gave up ! A few months later they also gave up on a "viral vector" type vaccine when initial tests on their candidates showed poor efficiency, whereas China, Russia and India have succeeded. They did some work on repurposing known medicines to treat Covid which didn't go very far either. Lamentable !

Well, at 52 million adults that's about 1/20th the population of an India or China, so 100k a day would be like 2 million a day proportionally. Also, I thought like half of the French don't even want the vaccination at all?

[darshan]

With the amount of money being doled out from all directions....

Black Doctors COVID-19 Consortium’s 24-hour clinic is not a feel-good story | Opinion
https://www.inquirer.com/opinion/commen ... 10304.html

BDCC was formed to bridge the gap in COVID-19 testing caused by systemic racism that has left too many Black neighborhoods in our city disproportionately vulnerable. Blacks, Latinos, and First Nations/Indigenous people are dying on average 1.9 to 2.4 times as often as whites and are being hospitalized 2.9 to 3.7 times the rate of whites.

“Let’s not forget that the consortium took on this task because the city was absent.”
Amadee Braxton

[Cyrano]

Well, at 52 million adults that's about 1/20th the population of an India or China, so 100k a day would be like 2 million a day proportionally. Also, I thought like half of the French don't even want the vaccination at all?

At 100K/day we will need 500 days, thats a year and a half encore ! No one wants to wait that long, the people & the govt all want to resume normal life at the earliest.

Yeah, we have some anivaxers but they're a small minority, no where near 50%, more like 2% or so but they get talked about because media has no other stories to t(s)ell.

[Suraj]

Final figure for Saturday
Day total : 1.42 million
Cumulative : 20.9 million

We will overtake UK in another day .

[Suraj]

Does anyone have anecdotal / first person insight as to how busy hospitals are today (Sunday) with vaccinations ? Saturday was surprisingly good at over 1.4 million, just under the 1.5 million on Friday .

[nandakumar]

I had my first vaccine shot yesterday at Public Health Centre in Chennai. The pace of vaccination was not particularly fast. I went in at 11.30 and came out at 2.30. There were I guess about 40 people ahead of me. Having said that, I must tip my hat to the staff of the health centre. It was hard work and they worked non stop without even a break for lunch. Amazing commitment.

[K Mehta]

Parents got vaccinated with covaxin couple of days back in Ahmedabad Gujarat. The whole mechanism is very first world. Kudos to the centre and state government. The message of vaccination with details like nurse name centre of vaccination etc received on phone.

[Suraj]

Please take screenshots of such messages (with personal info redacted) - it makes for great SM material to demonstrate how the process works in India.

[Cyrano]

The French can take some comfort from the fact that vaccine rollout is no better on the other side of the Rhine !

Germany should have led the world at handling the pandemic. But experts slam Merkel's vaccine response as a disaster

[nandakumar]

https://newleftreview.org/sidecar/posts/vaccine-debacle
A slightly dated article on the German Chancellor. I liked the first sentence.- "Angela Merkel knows a hot potato when she sees one". Brilliant!

[Zynda]

Hopefully NaMo is on the phone with Biden to sort out the issue of US cutting supply of vaccine raw materails to SII...CEO is warning of disruptions in production if not immediately.

In the past few weeks cases have been steadily creeping up in BLR from around 250s to 450 on Friday. I guess Final exams are on going for school kids...if they are not able to wrap up exams in the next 2 weeks, GoKar should recommend online mode for all schools, colleges & universities. I see many school & college kids mingling in huge groups without wearing masks or masks below their chin.

Also it seems like many private enterprises are slowly calling employees back to office...again GoI & respective state governments should come out and strongly encourage employers to do WFH mode if possible. Been hearing Namma Metro is starting to crowd again due to increased traffic on roads...this past year apparently used car market has exploded in India.

Also time to bring in limited restrictions on large gatherings like marriages, functions...events which lend themselves to cluster breakouts. Doctors have been warning on Twitter but it seems the message is not being passed...if passed certainly most people are not taking it seriously...

Good move to expand vaccination centers by including diagnostic labs/centers. Hopefully this week we will get better picture.

[Raja]

I would love to see us hit 10M in a single day. If USA can do 2 million a day, we can do 10M.

[chetak]

Hopefully NaMo is on the phone with Biden to sort out the issue of US cutting supply of vaccine raw materails to SII...CEO is warning of disruptions in production if not immediately.

In the past few weeks cases have been steadily creeping up in BLR from around 250s to 450 on Friday. I guess Final exams are on going for school kids...if they are not able to wrap up exams in the next 2 weeks, GoKar should recommend online mode for all schools, colleges & universities. I see many school & college kids mingling in huge groups without wearing masks or masks below their chin.

Also it seems like many private enterprises are slowly calling employees back to office...again GoI & respective state governments should come out and strongly encourage employers to do WFH mode if possible. Been hearing Namma Metro is starting to crowd again due to increased traffic on roads...this past year apparently used car market has exploded in India.

Also time to bring in limited restrictions on large gatherings like marriages, functions...events which lend themselves to cluster breakouts. Doctors have been warning on Twitter but it seems the message is not being passed...if passed certainly most people are not taking it seriously...

Good move to expand vaccination centers by including diagnostic labs/centers. Hopefully this week we will get better picture.

if you go around 1200 - 1230 to any big hospital in bangalore doing vaccinations for covid, they may accept walk-ins if you have already registered.

many appointments don't show up and the multidose vials have already been opened in the morning so the hospitals are keen to use up the stock and reduce the wastage so find a big hospital nearest to you and confirm that they are doing the vaccinations

you can register on one phone number four people.

carry your aadhar card.

BTW, all covid vaccination vials in hospitals are only multidose so no worries.

[Zynda]

^^Got your point Chetak saar but I'm below age eligibility criteria...

[Suraj]

No MoHFW 7pm update for Sunday. Fair enough - maybe no vaccinations are done on Sunday, and if they are, they'll report end of day figures on Monday morning.

[ranneel]

No MoHFW 7pm update for Sunday. Fair enough - maybe no vaccinations are done on Sunday, and if they are, they'll report end of day figures on Monday morning.

Cowin App at https://dashboard.cowin.gov.in/ shows 100k for Sunday till 9:00 p.m

[sivab]

Hopefully NaMo is on the phone with Biden to sort out the issue of US cutting supply of vaccine raw materails to SII...CEO is warning of disruptions in production if not immediately.

Why should Modi get involved in protecting SII revenue? India has ample supply of non-US supply dependent vaccine.

This cutting of supply by US is for Novavax vaccine which has not been approved for use anywhere in the world yet. Poonawala is a shrewd businessman with no interest in R&D. He just license manufactures other peoples vaccines like UoOxford or Novavax. He regularly pisses on people like BB who do actual R&D work if they will affect his revenue. He is just trying to protect his future revenue here, since Novavax has already signed a 1.1billion supply deal with COVAX initiative of WHO and most of that to be manufactured by SII for Novavax. Novavax may never be approved in India, since SII has no interest in doing such work. Covidsheild was approved based on foreign study. Covaxin is the only approved vaccine with efficacy studies done on Indian population so far. In short, this US supply issue has nothing to do with SII/UoOxford Covidsheild and BB Covaxin, two vaccines approved for use in India. Zydus Cadila vaccine is in Phase 3 trials in India. BB is in phase 1 trials of second vaccine BBV154 in India, a single shot nasal vaccine. These 4 vaccines have no US dependency, so India is in great position.

https://www.reuters.com/article/health- ... SL3N2L33CG

“There are a lot of bags, filters and critical items that manufacturers need,” Adar Poonawalla said. “The Novavax vaccine, which we are a major manufacturer of, needs these items from the U.S.”

[asgkhan]

if you go around 1200 - 1230 to any big hospital in bangalore doing vaccinations for covid, they may accept walk-ins if you have already registered.

many appointments don't show up and the multidose vials have already been opened in the morning so the hospitals are keen to use up the stock and reduce the wastage so find a big hospital nearest to you and confirm that they are doing the vaccinations

you can register on one phone number four people.

carry your aadhar card.

BTW, all covid vaccination vials in hospitals are only multidose so no worries.

In Columbia Asia / Fortis / Tier 2 hospitals, the average waiting time is around 6+ hours. That is the news I heard from my colleagues who have taken their old parents for the shot.

[chetak]

if you go around 1200 - 1230 to any big hospital in bangalore doing vaccinations for covid, they may accept walk-ins if you have already registered.

many appointments don't show up and the multidose vials have already been opened in the morning so the hospitals are keen to use up the stock and reduce the wastage so find a big hospital nearest to you and confirm that they are doing the vaccinations

you can register on one phone number four people.

carry your aadhar card.

BTW, all covid vaccination vials in hospitals are only multidose so no worries.

In Columbia Asia / Fortis / Tier 2 hospitals, the average waiting time is around 6+ hours. That is the news I heard from my colleagues who have taken their old parents for the shot.

For all hospitals handling the covid vaccination, you need to be mandatorily pre registered at:

https://www.cowin.gov.in/home

for now, if wait time is an issue, you may like to try some of the peripheral hospitals on the outskirts of bangalore


MVJ Medical College & Research Hospital located at Hoskote. It takes one about 45 minutes to reach there. The Hospital is on Old Madras road near the 30th km milestone.

or

Prakriya Hospitals, Service road, 8th mile, Nagasandra, Bangalore-560073. +91 95137 33 33 4 / 080 - 22028600
life@prakriyahospitals.com http://www.prakriyahospitals.com

or any other facility that you may like to checkout

I know of many who have driven out to these two facilities and come back very happy with the service provided.

We did not feel like driving out so far. We got it done at the MS Ramiah hospital. our total waiting time including getting the tokens, making payment, getting jabbed, waiting for the mandatory 30 minutes monitoring and observation by the hospital staff was an hour and ten minutes.

If you are a walk in, best not to go too early because appointment holders will always get the preference over walk ins

YMMV.

hopefully, other bangalore hospitals are almost at the end of their ramping up phase and many more local vaccination centers will soon start to hit their stride and begin handling large numbers

[neerajb]

Got my parents vaccinated two days back in Delhi. Registration is mandatory via cowin or arogya setu app. During fore noon session, hospitals allow only those who have registered. After 3 pm, walk-ins are allowed. Hospital staff get those registered using onsite computers. You still need to be 60+ or 45-60 and have one of the 20 diseases mentioned in the list. But they are not at all checking the certificates from doctor for the same.

Process is smooth and efficient. The hospital that I went in was expecting 100 people, but I saw around 60 till noon. That's why they have relaxed criterion for walk-ins and 45-60 years folks with no illnesses as mentioned by Chetak saar. Both my parents got covaxin but my in laws got covishield. Private hospitals are charging 250 INR whereas government facilities are free.

Cheers....

[nam]

SII has applied for Novavax trials in India. Either they are already doing it or might be approved soon.

SII also has it's own vaccine in development. In coming months India will be producing Covaxin, Covshield, Sputnik & Novavax. Then there are other Indian vaccines in the pipeline.

Pfizer or Mordena is not going to be used apart in US, Canada or Europe. Aus & NZ are not big markets. Canada is even asking SII & BB to set up production shops there! Europe is forced to order more AZ, because the US companies won't be able to provide in large numbers until end of May. AZ is cleverly asking SII to fill up it's backlog. Pretty sure Europe will start getting SII production lots.

Chinis are desperately trying to show they are the king. Our favorite paper GT has declared that one of the Chini producer is going to double (or triple their production) to claim largest vaccine producer from SII

I believe SII is now doling out 100M per month. BB will be soon 40M. Then Reddy's will be on Sputnik.Let's hope 10M. So there will be a minimum of 150M per month.

[Cyrano]

Good to see India upping the ante through the Quad.

India seeks funds from Quad alliance to match China's vaccine push: Source

NEW DELHI/WASHINGTON: India has urged the United States, Japan and Australia to invest in its vaccine production capacity, an Indian government source told Reuters, as the so-called Quad alliance tries to counter China's growing vaccine diplomacy.

Beijing has committed to provide at least 463 million doses of its home-made Covid-19 vaccines through exports and donations across the world from Asia to Africa, Europe and Latin America, according to Reuters calculations.

Two senior Indian officials said the Quad alliance, grouping the United States, Japan, Australia and India, was stepping up efforts to expand global vaccination to counter China's growing soft power. India, the world's biggest vaccine maker, believes it is best placed to steer the effort, they added.

Asked for comment, a US state department spokesperson did not refer to India's request for funds or to China but said Washington was deeply focused on expanding global vaccination, manufacturing and delivery.

"Secretary (Antony) Blinken spoke with his Quad counterparts on February 18 to discuss cooperation on Covid-19 response and recovery and climate change, among other issues," the official told Reuters.

There was no comment from the Australian government. But a government source said a global recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic was a policy priority for the country and its Quad partners. Australia is exploring a number of options to work with partners to enhance stability and prosperity in the region, the source said.

Japan's foreign minister Toshimitsu Motegi told a news conference on Friday that the four countries discussed the "necessity and importance of international cooperation to ensure equal access to vaccines for developing countries," at the February meeting, but nothing was decided.

An Indian foreign ministry spokesman did not respond to a request for comment.

One of the two Indian sources, an official who has direct knowledge of Quad alliance discussions, said the group had had several meetings about global vaccination.

"India has more vaccine options than any other Asian country at this point of time," said the source, declining to be named as he was not authorised to talk on the matter. "India expects members of the Quad alliance to pay to ramp up production.

A second Indian source said that at the February virtual meeting, the Quad countries discussed ways to "encourage alternative medical supply chains, thereby implying less dependency on China".

A top political advisory body in Beijing, the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, said concerns that China was using vaccines to sway other countries were "extremely narrow-minded."

China's purpose was to make vaccines available globally, the foreign ministry said.

Billions of doses
Indian companies such as the Serum Institute of India (SII), Bharat Biotech, Biological E and Cadila Healthcare have the combined capacity to produce billions of doses of their own vaccines or contract-manufacture for others.

SII, the world's biggest single manufacturer, is producing the Oxford University-AstraZeneca vaccine for many countries and will soon start making the Novavax shots in bulk.

India is also trying to sell a vaccine created by Bharat Biotech and the state-run Indian Council of Medical Research to 40 countries including Brazil, the Philippines and Zimbabwe. Bharat Biotech says it can make about 700 million doses of the shot a year.

Indian vaccine makers are also planning to produce more Covid-19 vaccines developed by the United States and Russia, including Johnson & Johnson.

A top Indian vaccine official told Reuters in January that the government had also held discussions with US companies Pfizer Inc and Moderna Inc about making their shots in India.

Serum's Novavax partnership holds "the key to the Quad’s diplomatic alliance in vaccines and push China out of regional vaccine sales", one of the Indian sources said.

"The focus is also on making sure the Quad alliance secures all the key markets for vaccines," he said.

Indian companies will also produce about 300 million doses of Russia's Sputnik-V vaccine, but the source said Washington was not keen on helping expand Moscow's clout in vaccines.

[sajo]

You still need to be 60+ or 45-60 and have one of the 20 diseases mentioned in the list. But they are not at all checking the certificates from doctor for the same.

Strange, here (Pune) they are, and sending back everyone who dont have one in the prescribed format. Frankly, diabetes and hypertension irrespective of how long they have had it is a risk especially for those >50 (anecdotally, of relatives and acquaintances some of whom couldnt make it inspite of being in 50s and in relative good health).

Process is smooth and efficient. The hospital that I went in was expecting 100 people, but I saw around 60 till noon. That's why they have relaxed criterion for walk-ins and 45-60 years folks with no illnesses as mentioned by Chetak saar. Both my parents got covaxin but my in laws got covishield. Private hospitals are charging 250 INR whereas government facilities are free.

Cheers....

Again , my experience seems to be the opposite here in Maharashtra. Huge crowds everywhere, with unavailable slots, even HCWs in private practice left out of the initial list etc. Wait times in the city hospitals seem to be in the region of 5+ hours with hundreds of others. No wonder we have cases going through the roof. The city reported 2000 cases in the last 24 hours, much ahead of Mumbai as well, and yet again, worse in the country.

[neerajb]

My father went in at 11 am and came out by 2 pm including 30 min observation time. My mother arrived at 9 am and she was out before 12 with 30 mins observation period.

[RajD]

You still need to be 60+ or 45-60 and have one of the 20 diseases mentioned in the list. But they are not at all checking the certificates from doctor for the same.

Strange, here (Pune) they are, and sending back everyone who dont have one in the prescribed format. Frankly, diabetes and hypertension irrespective of how long they have had it is a risk especially for those >50 (anecdotally, of relatives and acquaintances some of whom couldnt make it inspite of being in 50s and in relative good health).

Process is smooth and efficient. The hospital that I went in was expecting 100 people, but I saw around 60 till noon. That's why they have relaxed criterion for walk-ins and 45-60 years folks with no illnesses as mentioned by Chetak saar. Both my parents got covaxin but my in laws got covishield. Private hospitals are charging 250 INR whereas government facilities are free.

Cheers....

Again , my experience seems to be the opposite here in Maharashtra. Huge crowds everywhere, with unavailable slots, even HCWs in private practice left out of the initial list etc. Wait times in the city hospitals seem to be in the region of 5+ hours with hundreds of others. No wonder we have cases going through the roof. The city reported 2000 cases in the last 24 hours, much ahead of Mumbai as well, and yet again, worse in the country.

I think, sir, there is some disconnect here. There still remain many creases to be ironed out but several of my relatives and friends(with comorbidities) have taken vaccine shots in Pune and Thane very easily. In Thane they're distributing 100 tokens without registration in all municipal hospitals at 9.30am everyday and they're given vaccine shots in the afternoon from 2pm. free of cost.

[saip]

No MoHFW 7pm update for Sunday. Fair enough - maybe no vaccinations are done on Sunday, and if they are, they'll report end of day figures on Monday morning.

Cowin App at https://dashboard.cowin.gov.in/ shows 100k for Sunday till 9:00 p.m

That dashboard site is blocked in the USA. Is it done by GOI?

[ranneel]

Cowin App at https://dashboard.cowin.gov.in/ shows 100k for Sunday till 9:00 p.m

That dashboard site is blocked in the USA. Is it done by GOI?

Not sure.Thats the official Cowin site for the statistics part.
Today the dashboard shows approx 1.65 million vaccinations (dose1+2) till 8:00 p.m

[RajD]

https://maps.app.goo.gl/uFXUgUwYU6m7uWCx6
Here in Global Hospital(it is a designated COVID19 hospital) in Thane they're giving atleast 500-600 tokens daily. Then register themselves and then give vaccine. Depending upon rush its taking 2-3 hours from taking token to vaccination.

[Uttam]

Another 17 lakhs vaccinations till 9 pm on March 8th. Cumulative about 2.27 crores.

ANI
@ANI
·
2h
A total of 2,26,85,598 vaccine doses have been given, as per the provisional report till 9 pm today. Total 16,96,588 vaccine doses were given till 9 pm today, the 52nd day of nationwide COVID19 vaccination: Ministry of Health and Family Welfare

[Tanaji]

India surpassed UK in total vaccinated today. UK stands at 22,377,255 at the end of 08 March 2021.

This is despite UK starting of their vaccination program nearly a month earlier.

[Suraj]

Not just that, but within the first week of general population vaccination under phase 2 (high risk group), India has almost got to 2 million/vaccinations per day. The US touched this rate for the first time last week only - 2.5 months after starting. While India is much behind the US in total vaccinations, there's a good chance we'll overtake the US in daily rate this week itself.

[Suraj]

Vaccination rate officially crossed 2 million per day on Monday. Cumulatively north of 23 million now.

[Raja]

Vaccination rate officially crossed 2 million per day on Monday. Cumulatively north of 23 million now.

Awesome. But, lets not forget that we have a far bigger population than USA and UK. Not trying to belittle what we are achieving, but I want us to quickly reach a stage where there is no comparison between us and anyone else (especially UK) when talking in absolute terms. China is really the only competition, but so far they have been rather subdued on the vaccination front.

[Raja]

Covaxin production capacity is only 150 million doses in a year. Should we be exporting it? Unless we can massively increase the production capacity for covaxin, it will only make up a very small part of current and future vaccination drives.

[asgkhan]

Some good news from Bengaluru

https://www.timesnownews.com/bengaluru/ ... als/728882

With the vaccination process gradually gaining pace, the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) in Bengaluru has decided to open 300 new centres, of which 150 would be in private hospitals. The centres would open starting Monday, the commissioner of the civic body confirmed.

From Monday, 141 primary health centres, 26 maternity hospitals, six referral hospitals and 107 private hospitals will be operational to vaccinate people.

https://www.timesnownews.com/bengaluru/ ... rch/729323

Karnataka will intensify the inoculation drive from March 8, by providing vaccines at 3,000 centres including the primary health centres and district hospitals, with a target to vaccinate 1.5 lakh people everyday, state Health Minister Dr K Sudhakar said on Sunday.

https://www.timesnownews.com/bengaluru/ ... ing/729053

Bengaluru: The Karnataka government has said that the vaccination against the coronavirus would now be done at about 3000 centres. These centres would include Taluk hospitals, district hospitals and PHCs. The vaccination would be done at these centres from March 8.

Karnataka Health Minister K Sudhakar said that the target is to vaccinate 1.5 lakh people on a daily basis. He also said that more than 500 people would not be allowed at large gatherings. This move is targetted at avoiding overcrowding and the Health Minister said that all the necessary steps in this regard will now be taken.

[Mort Walker]

Vaccination rate officially crossed 2 million per day on Monday. Cumulatively north of 23 million now.

Awesome. But, lets not forget that we have a far bigger population than USA and UK. Not trying to belittle what we are achieving, but I want us to quickly reach a stage where there is no comparison between us and anyone else (especially UK) when talking in absolute terms. China is really the only competition, but so far they have been rather subdued on the vaccination front.

As of 09 March 2021, 08:00 IST (GMT+5:30) 23,008,733 vaccinations.

India has a much lower infection rate than many other countries even during its peak in Sep-Nov. Some 8100 infections/million and even lower death rate of 114/million. Other health issues can't be shorted in the name of Covid. Some 100/day die of non-covid pneumonia. India also has the highest incidence of rabies deaths by number and per capita mostly due to canine bites.

[Raja]

Awesome. But, lets not forget that we have a far bigger population than USA and UK. Not trying to belittle what we are achieving, but I want us to quickly reach a stage where there is no comparison between us and anyone else (especially UK) when talking in absolute terms. China is really the only competition, but so far they have been rather subdued on the vaccination front.

As of 09 March 2021, 08:00 IST (GMT+5:30) 23,008,733 vaccinations.

India has a much lower infection rate than many other countries even during its peak in Sep-Nov. Some 8100 infections/million and even lower death rate of 114/million. Other health issues can't be shorted in the name of Covid. Some 100/day die of non-covid pneumonia. India also has the highest incidence of rabies deaths by number and per capita mostly due to canine bites.

Yet, none of the other diseases require lockdowns that cause historic drop in economic growth. Let's not make silly comparisons.

[Mort Walker]

Yet, none of the other diseases require lockdowns that cause historic drop in economic growth. Let's not make silly comparisons.

But the lethality and impact on economic growth by these other infectious diseases is very significant. Abandoning public health by diverting more resources to covid will yield a terrible result.

[Manish_P]

Not suggesting to abandon thrust in combating other health challenges but how infectious are they compared to COVID

Will be very interesting to see the charts for other diseases in the past year.

I have no reference data but personal experience with relatives and housing society indicates that due to more cleanliness and sanitation triggered by Covid, and things like consuming more home cooked food, less traveling out in polluted environs, consuming more immunity booster foods/preparations there were a lot less incidences of the usual diseases and illness like viral colds, gastro, diarrheal diseases.

A very hyper-local effect around my apartment complex (with over 40% being senior citizens) was less severity of Asthma due to the slow down in construction work. One cause of increased concern during the initial weeks of lockdown was rise in sugar levels of diabetics (who depended a lot of walks, exercises in our playground with the complex) but they were again in control once the strict lockdown was lifted.

In fact our local physician, a general practitioner, retired a couple of months ago saying that there were hardly any patients at his clinic and he was unable to manage the rent. Well he was joking to a large extent as it was his family who had forced him to retire citing his age of 75+ years and not wanting to risk exposing him to infection. But he did mention that most of his regular patients in general reported (over video calls) much better health parameters and his guess was that it was due to leading a more healthy and disciplined lifestyle.

[darshan]

Some of the stats are skewed and masked. For example, a cardiologist from Karnavati told me that they are seeing ready to die cases due to not catching critical events in time due to no regular check ups. Lot of their regular patients arrive with close to 100% blockages. Due to chinese virus, cost for regular check-up had increased many fold and worse for patients that had to travel from outside. And this is GJ which is well equipped.

I'm with Mortji on this one. All processes are in place and it's time to pivot. One should also do post studies on lessons learned, cost/benefits, new standard operating procedures to handle similar situations in future, etc.