Wuhan Coronavirus Resource Thread

[uddu]

^^^There was vaccine hesitancy in many states when the vaccination started due to the bad press. Things changed around on its own when the Second wave came. But still in some states like TN, the vaccination has not picked up even when vaccines are available.
https://twitter.com/ShamikaRavi/status/ ... 4384180226

[Aditya_V]

Tn vaccines are available in limited nos in private hospitals in Chennai, the state vaccination drive has been very poor

[Amber G.]

FWIW -

^^^There was vaccine hesitancy in many states when the vaccination started due to the bad press. Things changed around on its own when the Second wave came. But still in some states like TN, the vaccination has not picked up even when vaccines are available.

About vaccine hesitancy - Here in Ohio, to attract/encourage vaccinations there is 1 million dollar lottery every week - chance to win by simply if you take a vaccine! (And Ohio/US death rate is much higher than India).
In some groups of population it is quite high. In India too - data (consistent with anecdotal feedback) the hesitancy is/was much higher than one would think. Psychology is quite strange but it is there, and it is real.

is there any study done or undergoing (most likely ICMR with the help of SII and/or BB) to understand "rate of decay" of anti-body/immunity?

My interest was to understand this a little better to incorporate in modeling. From what I know - at present "super model/sutra" model does/did not take this into account. This and effect due to vaccines. Mainly due to the reason that our forecast is supposed to be for 6-8 months in future, This is something which ought/will be taken into account when we have more data etc..

- Again take it for FWIW - I think immunity (from India data) is either shorter ( 6-12 months) (or the acquired immunity is not working too well with new variants - the "reach" parameter for this phase is quite high). This is also consistent with some of the other experts who are familiar with pfizer data etc.. but time will tell.

A gentleman by the name of Bogini Anandayya, a resident of muthukur <snip>

FWIW: This kind of post would have been removed from FB or Twitter .. I think Brf should not be a place for such posts.

[DrRatnadip]

I received this interesting hypothesis regarding mucor on Watsapp..

One of probably cause of mucormycosis in covid is excessive use of zinc.

We are using steroids in rheumatoid arthritis, vascular collagen disorder , interstitial pneumonia, some of variety of glomerulonephritis , many allergic condition of skin , many types of connective tissue disorders , some cases of COPD and many more types conditions where we are using steroids since years but this black fungus ( actually it is misnomer,black colour is the due to tissue necrosis caused by fungus ) was hardly seen.
But in covid. Many be many factors but one of the factor is excessive use of zinc. Zinc actually acts as growth factor of mucormycosis. In vitro study it has been seen that zinc chilator (zinc antidote ) like clioquinol or phenanthrolene or other zinc chilator inhibit the growth of this fungus. That means zinc deprivement nutrilise the growth. Not only this , difficult to grow this fungus in zinc deficient tissue. Zinc chilator has seen Amphotericin B like action

Therefore strong evidence that high incidence is may be associated with excessive use of zinc..

[chetak]

I received this interesting hypothesis regarding mucor on Watsapp..

One of probably cause of mucormycosis in covid is excessive use of zinc.

We are using steroids in rheumatoid arthritis, vascular collagen disorder , interstitial pneumonia, some of variety of glomerulonephritis , many allergic condition of skin , many types of connective tissue disorders , some cases of COPD and many more types conditions where we are using steroids since years but this black fungus ( actually it is misnomer,black colour is the due to tissue necrosis caused by fungus ) was hardly seen.
But in covid. Many be many factors but one of the factor is excessive use of zinc. Zinc actually acts as growth factor of mucormycosis. In vitro study it has been seen that zinc chilator (zinc antidote ) like clioquinol or phenanthrolene or other zinc chilator inhibit the growth of this fungus. That means zinc deprivement nutrilise the growth. Not only this , difficult to grow this fungus in zinc deficient tissue. Zinc chilator has seen Amphotericin B like action

Therefore strong evidence that high incidence is may be associated with excessive use of zinc..

another factor may be uncontrolled diabetes

some people in India are using methylene blue for treatment of mucormycosis in covid with encouraging results


and outside India, methylene blue trials for treatment in covid seems to be in phase 2


https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT04635605

[Atmavik]

This center/state distribution of vaccines has been a huge fiasco. Vaccination rate has dropped by a million/ day. This is a huge drop and I hope we don’t end up paying for this.

There is still vaccine hesitancy among old people but younger folks who want to take it are not finding slots. Check out prof shamika Ravi’s tweets for more info on this.

Stop with the vaccine hesitancy bogey. Vaccine shortage is why the numbers have dropped. They will go back up again as soon as production ramps up in July/August. Once there is enough supplies, govt can also focus on easier access.

should have provided the link

https://twitter.com/ShamikaRavi/status/ ... 4384180226

[Raja]

Even if the above chart is accurate (I have no idea, it is from twitter), all it says is that some states have a lot of unused vaccines. Another hypothesis could be that these states are terrible at delivering the vaccines to the people.

[chetak]

[chetak]

received by email

Vulture journalism in medical reporting – Has the Lancet become a rag newspaper?

Satish Bhat​1, P. M. Parikh2, S. Badamath3, K. Narasimha Rao4

1Department of Plastic Surgery, Yenepoya Speciality Hospital, Mangalore, Karnataka, India
2Department of Medical Oncology, Mumbai Oncocare Centre, Mumbai, Maharashtra, India
3Department of Psychiatry, National Institute of Mental Health and Neuro Sciences, Bengaluru, Karnataka, India
4PGDMLE, Orthopaedic Surgeon and Medicolegal Consultant, Sai Care Hospital, Woraiyur, Trichy, Tamil Nadu, India

*Corresponding author: Dr. Satish Bhat, Department of Plastic Surgery, Yenepoya Speciality Hospital, Mangalore, Karnataka, India. drbhatplastic@gmail.com
Received: 2021-05-13, Accepted: 2021-05-13, Epub ahead of print: 2021-05-22,
© 2021 Published by Scientific Scholar on behalf of Indian Journal of Medical Sciences

Licence
This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-Share Alike 4.0 License, which allows others to remix, tweak, and build upon the work non-commercially, as long as the author is credited and the new creations are licensed under the identical terms.

How to cite this article: Bhat S, Parikh PM, Badamath S, Rao KN. Vulture journalism in medical reporting – Has the Lancet become a rag newspaper? Indian J Med Sci, doi: 10.25259/IJMS_203_2021

Nothing sells like bad News! Mainstream media have become experts in this “art,” fine tuning their devious methods since years. The recent Editorial in the Lancet “India’s COVID-19 Emergency” takes the cake – as a landmark low in vulture journalism.[1] What was previously considered as a respected scientific medical journal has stooped to the level of tabloid newspapers such as the Sun and Daily Star.[2]

Strengthening the positive is the need of the hour, the epitome being the theme for World Health Day “Building a fairer, healthier world for everyone” (April 7, 2021). On the other hand, the editorial team of Lancet was busy digging dirt against India. While the second wave of the Chinese COVID-19 pandemic was spreading devastation across the globe, biased and politically motivated media were gleefully showcasing images of gloom and doom from only one country – India. Did they show any such images from hospitals in the USA or the UK, even at the peak of their COVID-19 onslaught? The answer is a clear No! In the US, the HIPAA Act makes it an offence to publish such details including images of death without consent.[3] For the Lancet (and other vulture journalists), whatever little ethics they have evaporates when it comes to bashing India.[1,4]

When it comes to a country with a population of 1.38 billion, absolute numbers will always be high. They can easily be used to project an inflated image of ground reality – especially for COVID-19-related morbidity and mortality. How can our incidence be compared to a tiny country, for instance Seychelles, whose population is less than 100,000. May we remind Lancet that the COVID-19 mortality in India, when seen as per million of population is only a fraction of that seen in the UK, the US, and other Western countries.[5,6] Even today, the deaths per million of population in India is less than 10% of that in the USA, the UK, Brazil, France, Spain, and Italy.[7] Why then flash absolute numbers showing India in poor light? Can it be a deliberate attempt to spread panic, chaos, and despair? Or is it to influence public sentiment and then force the country to purchase unnecessary equipment or material from the Western world at inflated prices? Irrespective of their real motive, no one can dispute that such irresponsible journalism leads to significant adverse impact on Mental Health of Indians.[8]

Even appeals by professionals fell on deaf ears – a total disregard for evidence of serious mental health hazards already being high during disaster less profound than the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.[9] Was the International Media (in the US and the UK), showing disturbing images of dead bodies burning in cremation grounds in India, to divert the attention of their own citizens from the dismal situation in their respective countries? Repeatedly flashing such images is cruel and inhuman. Even the burial of a terrorist like Osama Bin Laden was given more dignity (did any media show pictures of his burial?). It is common knowledge that the cremation of mortal remains by Hindus is a sacred and very personal ceremony. It is to solemnize the departure of the soul to its maker (breaking its link with the body) and is vital for emotional wellbeing and closure to the family.[10] Why then did Western media show total disregard about maintaining confidentiality and respecting such personal events? In contrast, are the low key and muted murmurs about hundreds of bodies (of those who died due to COVID-19) still awaiting burial and lying in refrigerated trucks outside New York city.[11] Have we seen any disturbing images of these?

Vulture journalists have not even shied away from posting fake and morphed images – for instance, the New York Post has published a photograph showing the body of a woman lying on the street and claimed it to be death due to COVID-19.[12] In reality, it is a photograph that was published almost a year ago following leakage of gas in Andhra Pradesh. Can journalism stoop lower![13,14] Yes, it can. Today, they are distorting positive initiatives taken by Indian authorities, and casting aspersions on them using dubious sources.[15,16] Aren’t remarks like “Nero fiddles when Rome burns” more appropriate for the previous US leadership?

Vulture journalists, like the Lancet, should be held accountable for the consequence of such fake news, concocted images, and misleading sensationalism.[17] They are solely responsible for adding to the panic, confusion, and failure of people to follow COVID-19 appropriate behavior. The fall out includes black marketing and hoarding of medical supplies, oxygen cylinders, and oxygen concentrators. The fear in the minds of patients is fuelled to such an extent that people start thronging and crowding hospital facilities for the slightest of symptoms. Is this the real agenda of the media vultures? Are they orchestrating this at the behest of vested business interests? Perhaps involving financers of vaccine and pharma companies; people who portray themselves as running international NGOs for the benefit of LMIC but refuse to let go of the formula of the anti-COVID-19 vaccine whose intellectual property rights they own.[18]

Exploiting tragedy as just another commodity is not the exclusive purview of foreign media. Did one prominent Indian journalist jump on this bandwagon, with disregard for the memory of her own father? She claimed that her dying father’s last words to her were “I’m choking, treat me.”[19] We are wondering how this patient was not being treated, when he was actually admitted under India’s greatest experts at a prestigious corporate hospital considered as one of the best internationally?[20] We also ask how a patient in the ICU on ventilator support was able to speak. Did the concerned journalist enter a highly restricted area unnecessarily and put at risk the lives of other patients admitted there?[21]

The Lancet editorial has many factual errors, besides relying on dubious sources.[22] It is, therefore, not surprise that they arrived at outrageous conclusions, justifying their political agenda in the guise of social responsibility.[23] Chinese military researchers and public health officials discussed weaponization of SARS coronavirus, in a 5-year-old publication.[24] Why has Lancet not written any editorial on this subject – or the subject of crimes against humanity in China?[25] Instead, they turn a blind eye to the fate of the whistle blower doctors at the epicenter (Wuhan) of the Chinese COVID-19 outbreak, origin of the current pandemic.[26] We request the Asia editor of Lancet, Helena Hui Wang, to wake up!

The Professionalism Code of Conduct of World Association of Medical Editors (2016) states that editors of medical journals are accountable and responsible for what they publish.[27] The first priority of editors should be to preserve the reputation of their journals through their ethical behavior.[17,23] If their action will make Lancet fall into the category of a rag newspaper, what is the hidden agenda of the Lancet’s editorial board?

In summary, the Chinese COVID-19 pandemic is being deliberately misused to discredit India’s efforts. Such actions have a significant contribution to disrupting India’s health-care system and would form sufficient grounds for prosecution under the “Epidemic Diseases Act 1897,” National Disaster Management Act 2005 and various sections of IPC and IT Act.[28]

What ethical editors and publishers should do is to provide a balanced critical reporting based on facts with the intention to be proactive and facilitate solutions. The selfless dedication of health-care professionals, voluntary agencies (religious or otherwise), other frontline workers, and the administration (state and central) needs to be appreciated and lauded appropriately. India’s Vaccine Maitri (Friendship) project, undertaken by our government, has provided 66 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines to 95 countries – either free or at minimal cost.[29] Did the Lancet bother to take note of this generous humanitarian initiative for social good? Or did it highlight the fact that western nations having stockpiles of unused vaccines were only providing excuses and lip service when it came to sharing with the developing countries? As health professionals our job should be to desist from fear mongering, not make misleading statements, and ensure we use robust “level one” facts on which to base our conclusions. The current Lancet editorial team (and other vulture journalists) should be aware that all of us have to ultimately answer to a higher being. Can you face your day of judgment with a clear conscience?

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[Krishna_V]

If anyone has taken vaccine without registration in which category would it fall? People with influence have taken vaccine but not registered yet.

[chetak]

If anyone has taken vaccine without registration in which category would it fall? People with influence have taken vaccine but not registered yet.

how would they get the certificate if they needed to travel abroad or even prove that they had been vaccinated.

[vijayk]

https://swarajyamag.com/news-brief/expl ... r-cent-now
Explained: How Uttar Pradesh Brought Down COVID Positivity Rate From 22 Per Cent In April to 2.67 Per Cent Now

A two-member monitoring team visit homes to test everyone with symptoms of COVID-19 using Rapid Antigen Tests (RAT) kits. Those who test positive are quickly isolated and given a medicine kit with advice on disease management.

All the contacts of those who test positive are quarantined and tested using an RT-PCR at home by a rapid response team.

Each Block within a district has been allocated two mobile vans to test people with symptoms, even as routine sample collection and testing continues in Community Health Centres.

The state government has reportedly deployed over 1.4 lakh teams and 21,242 supervisors from the state health department for this activity to ensure all rural areas are covered.

[Kakkaji]

Today's official vaccination numbers:

COVID-19 Vaccination Update- Day 127

Cumulative Vaccine Coverage exceeds 19.49 Crore

Nearly 1cr beneficiaries of age group 18-44 Vaccinated so far

More than 15.5 lakh Vaccine Doses administered today till 8 pm

The cumulative number of COVID-19 vaccine doses administered in the country exceeded 19.49 Cr (19,49,51,603) as per the 8 pm provisional report today.

6,82,398 beneficiaries of the age group 18-44 years received their first dose of COVID vaccine today and cumulatively 99,79,676 across 37 States/UTs since the start of Phase-3 of the vaccination drive. Bihar, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh have administered more than 10 lakh beneficiaries of the age group 18-44 years for their first dose of COVID vaccine.

As on Day-127 of the vaccination drive (22nd May, 2021), total 15,52,126 vaccine doses were given. 13,80,232 beneficiaries were vaccinated for 1st dose and 1,71,894 beneficiaries received 2nd dose of vaccine as per the provisional report till 8 P.M

[kit]

By the way isnt there a law to prevent disinformation and mass panic regarding COVID ., how come it is not applied to these arm chair "anal"ysts

[Krishna_V]

If anyone has taken vaccine without registration in which category would it fall? People with influence have taken vaccine but not registered yet.

how would they get the certificate if they needed to travel abroad or even prove that they had been vaccinated.

Such people are worried about life more than getting it documented and do not want to visit vaccine centers including private centers. Once things settle, they will get it documented.

[putnanja]

Black fungus menace: 250 people in Karnataka admitted

In a shocking revelation, according to Health Minister Dr Sudhakar, a few hospitals are at fault as they were using tap water instead of distilled water in humidifiers, which has led to the spurt in black fungus cases.
...
According to the report, instead of using distilled water in humidifiers, hospitals are using tap water. The report also reveals that black fungus growth was found in cannula and other equipment used in the ICUs. The experts have suggested that complete sanitisation is required before shifting new patients.
...

[Jarita]

^^^There was vaccine hesitancy in many states when the vaccination started due to the bad press. Things changed around on its own when the Second wave came. But still in some states like TN, the vaccination has not picked up even when vaccines are available.
https://twitter.com/ShamikaRavi/status/ ... 4384180226

Vaccine hesitancy has not just cost lives but also prevented production from ramping up. Add to it, the rona dhona about sending vaccines to other countries and India lost the opportunity to ramp up exports. That market is now captured by chinese vaccines. It was a default market for India across several African and S American nations. These Indian vaccine doubters have damaged a lot more than what meets the eye.

Separately, Metformin, a commonly prescribed diabetes drug has shown some efficacy in reducing severity amongst diabetics who were prescribed the drug. Given the rampant untreated diabetes and pre diabetes in India, it might be valuable to prescribe this drug for a larger pool of pre diabetics as a prophylactic drug.

https://www.uab.edu/news/research/item/ ... d-diabetes

“The mechanisms may involve metformin’s previously described anti-inflammatory and anti-thrombotic effects,” Shalev said.

[Manish_P]

Maybe some regions are close to herd immunity.. still doesn't excuse throwing caution (and masks) to the wind!

Four out of 1,682 test positive during random antigen tests

Not only is the number of new Covid-positive patients coming down in Kalyan and Dombivali, the overall tally of positive cases has also dropped.

The Thane police along with Kalyan Dombivali Municipal Corporation carried out surprise and sudden antigen tests for three days at various locations. Out of the 1,682 tests only four people turned out to be positive and were sent to a nearby Covid centre for treatment.

The KDMC that saw 2,500 cases a day until sometime ago is now witnessing only 277 cases, with active cases nearing around 4,000 while around 124,953 have been successfully treated for Covid-19 in the area.

However, as the figures have started going down several residents have started flocking the streets after which KDMC commissioner Vijay Surywanshi along DCP Vivek decided to carry sudden antigen tests and send those testing positive to isolation centres to stop such people from roaming the streets freely. Accordingly, the police along with municipal officers arranged antigen tests at various chowks in Kalyan and Dombivali.

[Atmavik]

Vaccination rate has dropped to 1.3 million a day (7 day avg). I am beginning to think that it is not just a supply issue. either states are not reporting or the efficiancy of delivery has dropped after states got involved. lets see if the rate picks up in June we should go back to 4 million/day from July.

I also hope more private companies join the drive once supply increases.

https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/te ... 182855.cms

[Ashokk]

Moderna refuses to send vaccines directly to Punjab government, says its against our policy

NEW DELHI: Vaccine manufacturer Moderna has refused to send vaccines directly to the Punjab government, reported news agency ANI.
Moderna said it only deals with government of India and not with any state government or any private party, Punjab's Nodal Officer for vaccination was quoted as saying by ANI.
Moderna is a Massachusetts-based biotechnology company established in 2010 and its vaccine has been approved in over 40 countries.
So far, about 90 million people have been inoculated with Moderna's COVID-19 vaccine globally.
In a bid to "liberalise" its vaccine procurement policy, the Centre last month allowed state governments and private hospitals to procure vaccine directly from the manufacturers.
Many states, including Maharashtra, UP and Telangana have since either floated global tenders or intend to do so for getting the requisite vaccine for their states.
Punjab too has been exploring the option of global tenders as the CMO informed on Twitter three days ago.

[vijayk]

https://www.reuters.com/world/india/ind ... 021-05-07/

India's Biological E. Ltd will soon start Phase III trials of its COVID-19 vaccine and plans producing 75 million to 80 million doses a month from August, its managing director told Reuters on Friday.

The company has developed the vaccine with Baylor College of Medicine in Houston and Dynavax Technologies Corp (DVAX.O). Late last month it received approval from India's drug regulator to conduct a Phase III clinical trial, which Managing Director Mahima Datla said would begin soon.

Government officials have said the vaccine, which uses the recombinant-protein technology in which a harmless agent is used to stimulate an immune response in cells, could be rolled out in the country from August.

Datla said Biological E. would apply for emergency use authorisation (EUA) for the drug based on government advice.

Production "from August but EUA depends on the government. Will follow their advice and directives," she said in a text message. "75-80 million doses a month from the time of launch."

[Raja]

Vaccination rate has dropped to 1.3 million a day (7 day avg). I am beginning to think that it is not just a supply issue. either states are not reporting or the efficiancy of delivery has dropped after states got involved. lets see if the rate picks up in June we should go back to 4 million/day from July.

Good luck finding out what exactly is going on. Everyone is using Covid as a political football, instead of providing transparent information. But, anecdotally, I know several people in Ahmedabad who have been unsuccessfully trying to get a vaccine appointment over the last month for their first dose. Most of them could have easily received the vaccination before the current wave but were too lazy.

In Ahmedabad atleast they were doing really well in terms of making it easy (for the relatively well off) by organizing vaccination camps in different society and clubs. But all that has stopped since the change in policy.

[vijayk]

The 2 Billion doses to be manufactured in India from Aug-Dec

1. Did they secure materials needed for them?
2. Is it internal or do we depend on US, Europe or China for some of the materials?
3. If Biological E produces mRNA vaccine, does it have to compete with Moderna and Pfizer for vaccine materials?
4. What about Sputnik?

Looks like Govt. and private sector are making enough manufacturing sites available but not sure if they have made the supplies secure.

Hope we are not making these estimates based on external commitments which may not come through.

https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/ind ... 575625.cms
Centre to augment manufacturing capacity of Covaxin


https://indianexpress.com/article/citie ... n-7308732/
‘Will have capacity for 22.8 crore vaccine doses a year’, says managing director of Haffkine Institute
"We received a grant of Rs 65 crore from the Centre, and from the state, we got Rs 94 crore to commence operations," said Sandeep Rathod, managing director of the Maharashtra government-owned Haffkine Institute.

[milindc]

The 2 Billion doses to be manufactured in India from Aug-Dec

1. Did they secure materials needed for them?

Dr Suchitra Ella in a panel discussion with Rahul Kanwal stated that they have all materials secured for their vaccine supply until Jan 2022.

[vijayk]

The 2 Billion doses to be manufactured in India from Aug-Dec

1. Did they secure materials needed for them?

Dr Suchitra Ella in a panel discussion with Rahul Kanwal stated that they have all materials secured for their vaccine supply until Jan 2022.

At 6:30 she says she has supplies for covaxin till jan 2022

[Ashokk]

In U-turn, government allows companies to vaccinate staff’s kin too

NEW DELHI: Reversing its earlier policy, the government has allowed private and state entities to vaccinate not just employees but also their dependent family members.
The fresh advisory, issued on Friday, came after companies and industry bodies took up the issue with the ministry of health, arguing limiting vaccination against Covid-19 only to employees was not going to help. Companies received the communication on Saturday.
Several firms, both in the public and private sector, had already lined up vaccination programmes for their employees and family members. While the May 19 advisory was seen to be holding back the vaccination drive, Friday’s letter said the clarifications followed several queries and were meant for “further accelerating” inoculations.
Now, the government has allowed family members and dependents — as defined by the employer — to be covered under the programme at industrial and workplace Covid Vaccination Centres (CVCs). This means the employee, spouse, their children, parents, in-laws and other dependents allowed by companies in their internal policies can be vaccinated at these centres. Employers have been advised to procure the vaccines from hospitals with whom they may have tied up.
At government CVCs, beneficiaries who are 45 years or above can be vaccinated for free through doses supplied by the Centre or state governments. Beneficiaries in the 18-44 years bracket can be covered through doses directly procured by the states, the ministry said.
Allowing employers to vaccinate employees was a key feature of the programme from May. In fact, companies were surprised by the ban on vaccinating family members as the Centre and state governments had earlier suggested to them to also reach out to communities around their factories. An industry chamber and its members have identified close to 50 lakh such beneficiaries, who can now hope to get vaccinated.

[Jarita]

That’s a good u-turn because it takes state inefficiencies out of the picture and puts the vaccines in the hands of those incented to deliver. Corporations are incented to vaccinate employees and remove their family disruptions.

[Kakkaji]

Pace of daily Covid jabs in May lags domestic availability

Average gap between daily output, vaccination at 7 lakh doses

a reconciliation of current domestic output of Covid-19 vaccines with daily vaccination chart shows that the pace of vaccination in May is below the available supply.

Experts think that this could be due to ongoing lockdowns, logistics issues and vaccine hesitancy.

The daily average vaccine administration in the country has nearly halved to 19.2 lakh doses between May 11 and 20 as opposed to an average of 36.5 lakh doses every day during April 1-10. This is not entirely due to lack of vaccine supply. According to news reports and vaccine production data shared by Serum Institute and Bharat Biotech, the two manufacturers have collectively produced eight crore doses in April and May with Serum contributing seven crore doses of Covishield and Bharat Biotech producing one crore doses of Covaxin each month.

However, in May, the average vaccine output of the two vaccine-makers stands at 25.80 lakh doses per day. But the average vaccination between May 1 and 20 is only 18.44 lakh doses per day, resulting in a gap of about 7 lakh doses per day between supply and actual usage.

The Union Health Ministry also said on Saturday that more than 1.9 crore Covid vaccine doses are still available with the States/UTs to be administered and added that 40,650 vaccine doses are in the pipeline and will be received by the States/UTs within the next three days.

Dr Ashwin Karuppan, Senior Consultant-Internal Medicine, Gleneagles Global Health City, Chennai, says local lockdowns curtailing free movement of people, over-concentration of vaccines in some States, shifting focus of hospitals from vaccination to Covid treatment and vaccine hesitancy are some of the major reasons for the falling vaccination rates across the country.

[Kakkaji]

States may hit a roadblock in global sourcing quest

Companies such as Pfizer, Moderna say they negotiate only with Central governments

As more States float global tenders to procure vaccines some of the big vaccine-makers may not be quite in a position to participate in this “fragmented” exercise.

At present, vaccines that can be quickly incorporated into an immunisation programme are those listed by the World Health Organization for emergency use, including vaccines from Pfizer, Moderna, AstraZeneca, Johnson and Johnson (J&J) and Sinopharm. But existing global supply bottlenecks and lack of clarity on the domestic front (States floating their own tenders) indicate that States will find it difficult to procure vaccines from a Pfizer or Moderna, for instance.

Pfizer has indicated that its discussions will be only through the Central government. “Pfizer remains committed to continuing our engagement with the Government of India towards making the Pfizer and BioNTech vaccine available for use nationally....across the world Pfizer will supply the Covid-19 vaccine only to central governments and supra-national organisations for deployment in national immunisation programmes. The allocation of doses and implementation plan within a country is a decision for local governments based on relevant health authority guidance,” a Pfizer company spokesperson told BusinessLine.

Moderna, too, is said to have told the Punjab government that it would deal only with the Centre.

Immunisation has always been through national programmes and a fragmented approach will not work, observed former Health Secretary JVR Prasada Rao. “Besides, there are no excess vaccine supplies as companies have already committed much of their supplies for the next several months,” he added. States competing for vaccines will push up the price of vaccines, he said, and the country loses its bargaining power and economies of scale that come from procuring as a single entity.

Meanwhile, domestic drugmaker Zydus Cadila Group has indicated interest in participating in the global tenders. Zydus Cadila Managing Director, Sharvil Patel, said, “We are open to exploring different avenues in making our vaccine ZyCoV-D accessible to people.” The company is in the final stage of submitting its late-stage trial data and seeking regulatory approvals.

Local companies could be interested in these tenders, given the volumes and better pricing, an industry-hand said.

[Jarita]

Pace of daily Covid jabs in May lags domestic availability

Average gap between daily output, vaccination at 7 lakh doses

a reconciliation of current domestic output of Covid-19 vaccines with daily vaccination chart shows that the pace of vaccination in May is below the available supply.

Experts think that this could be due to ongoing lockdowns, logistics issues and vaccine hesitancy.

The daily average vaccine administration in the country has nearly halved to 19.2 lakh doses between May 11 and 20 as opposed to an average of 36.5 lakh doses every day during April 1-10. This is not entirely due to lack of vaccine supply. According to news reports and vaccine production data shared by Serum Institute and Bharat Biotech, the two manufacturers have collectively produced eight crore doses in April and May with Serum contributing seven crore doses of Covishield and Bharat Biotech producing one crore doses of Covaxin each month.

However, in May, the average vaccine output of the two vaccine-makers stands at 25.80 lakh doses per day. But the average vaccination between May 1 and 20 is only 18.44 lakh doses per day, resulting in a gap of about 7 lakh doses per day between supply and actual usage.

The Union Health Ministry also said on Saturday that more than 1.9 crore Covid vaccine doses are still available with the States/UTs to be administered and added that 40,650 vaccine doses are in the pipeline and will be received by the States/UTs within the next three days.

Dr Ashwin Karuppan, Senior Consultant-Internal Medicine, Gleneagles Global Health City, Chennai, says local lockdowns curtailing free movement of people, over-concentration of vaccines in some States, shifting focus of hospitals from vaccination to Covid treatment and vaccine hesitancy are some of the major reasons for the falling vaccination rates across the country.

This is precisely why 50 percent of vaccine output needs to be sold to employers. Get those who are willing to get vaccinated, jabbed. We cannot create a vaccine wall without significant numbers. It obvious that some states are deliberately hoarding to create a perception of shortage and to buy foreign vaccines. They are all sniffing a great opportunity of making money from perceived vaccine shortage.
Track the states and districts where there is a gap between vaccines delivered and vaccines administered. Also do an audit of actual vaccine wastage vs reported. It’s a big scam.

For the rest of the 50 percent, prioritize central and state government employees who are in the frontlines irrespective of age. All this resistance will fade away. Tell the states to vaccinate their employees first. If they don’t, let them face the music from their local employees.

We need all the frontline workers and government workers to get back to work and in person. Only then can we optimize delivery of anything. Also, we don’t need any more excuses.

The remaining vaccines can be prioritized by the states for critical districts and mini segments of the population.

Without putting incentives and disincentives, you cannot ensure a successful vaccine rollout in India where there are so many heinous enemies willing to make hay over dead bodies.

[vijayk]

Why was COVAXIN not approved by WHO?

[vera_k]

We'll find out I suppose, but the manufacturing facility failed the last inspection carried out by the Brazilian regulator. That would need to be addressed before the WHO comes to inspect.

[venkat_kv]

^^^
Suarj San on Twitter was commenting that Covaxin has applied for the WHO EUL status recently. They should get the result out in a little while.
Also, he says that Sinopham is not in the WHO list, but the report above by Kakkaji states that Sinopham is in the WHO list.
Suraj saar, also points out that J&J vaccine failed inspection in the US plants even though its in the list and gets all of their US vaccines from the Netherlands facility.

https://twitter.com/surajbrf/status/1396157862292824066

[venkat_kv]

Also wanted to ask regarding the WHO chair, not sure if it goes here or in the strat thread. mods may move it if its OT here.

last year during the Galwan clashes and first wave of covid, it was speculated that India was going to get to the health chairman/head of the WHO and Dr. Harshvardhan from Central ministry was going to succeed Tedros. But I don't think any such thing has happened. was that false news or was it with respect to some secretary level changes only.

[Amber G.]

^^^ Dr Harshvardhan was elected as chair of WHO’s Executive Board and he may succeed Tedros when his term expires (in 2022 or so) who is at present Director-General .

[putnanja]

Black fungus: Experts to study possible causes including industrial oxygen use

Experts in Karnataka will study whether the rise in the Mucormycosis cases is linked to use of industrial oxygen and its possible contamination. Deputy Chief Minister C N Ashwath Narayan, who is also the head of the state's COVID task force, held a meeting on Sunday with the treatment protocol committee where the possible sources of the infection were discussed.

...
Also, black fungus cases are not spotted in other COVID hit countries, but they are occurring only in India, he said.

Dr Sampath Chandra Prasad Rao, skull surgeon, Manipal Hospital (Bengaluru) made the presentation about mucormycosis at the meeting and felt the probable reasons for the surge in black fungus may be contamination, either due to low-quality cylinders or low-quality piping system at the ICU level in hospitals.

It may also be caused because of contamination at the industry level from where the oxygen is being supplied or due to low standard of sterilization or any other such reasons.

Suspicion was raised that it may be due to usage of ordinary tap water in ventilators, Rao said.

...
"To meet the rise in demand, industrial oxygen is being procured in large quantity and questions have been emanated, about, whether the oxygen supplied from industries matches with the quality of medical oxygen or not. This could also be one of the reasons," he said.

Read more at:
https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/in ... aign=cppst

[Suraj]

^^^
Suarj San on Twitter was commenting that Covaxin has applied for the WHO EUL status recently. They should get the result out in a little while.
Also, he says that Sinopham is not in the WHO list, but the report above by Kakkaji states that Sinopham is in the WHO list.
Suraj saar, also points out that J&J vaccine failed inspection in the US plants even though its in the list and gets all of their US vaccines from the Netherlands facility.

https://twitter.com/surajbrf/status/1396157862292824066

Boss, please quote me properly. I said Sinovac, not Sinopharm. To make matters worse, there are multiple Sinopharms - the Sinopharm BIBP (Beijing Institute of Biological Products) and the Sinopharm WIBP (Wuhan Institute of Biological Products). Only Sinopharm-BIBP has WHO EUL listing, even though it has no published Ph3 data either.

Here's the current WHO EUL/PQ List, directly referencing their latest on their site: WHO EUL/PQ Covid-19 Vaccine Status

[Amber G.]

From Our own Dr. Shiv - regarding black fungus:

This is an oxygen humidifier. It is just a bottle of water through which dry oxygen is bubbled to moisturize it and keep air passages moist. Every hospital and O2 generator has it. Mucormycosis black fungus can come from this.

Every patient must get a fresh sterilised bottle and sterile water should be used. Bottles that have not been changed from patient to patient can spread black fungus. A blue colouored methylene blue solution can be added to kill fungus but..but but but...
Methylene blue IS NOT a substitute for bottle changing for every patient and using distilled water, not tap water. Also home oxygen users get these bottles even with oxygen generators. Great care must be taken

[Thakur_B]

Amber G, there has been an incredible shortage of the oxygen regulator kits. I had to pay triple the market rate to get hands on a few.

[Raja]

Good decision allowing on site registration for 18-44 group in govt. controlled centers.