Bharat Rakshak

^ Ram Ram, Primus ji

Have always read your earlier informative posts with attention.

Forgot to mention couple of things - Before departing from the center we were given two tablets (crocin i think, but am not sure) and my aunt was told to take them only if she got fever and body ache.

Secondly, yesterday i got an IVR type phone call from the vaccination center asking for rating about the overall experience (Social distancing followed or not, sanitation at center, behavior of attending staff, facilities provided, time taken, overall experience etc). All in all quite professional and competent.

BTW when we were waiting at the centre (post vaccination) i observed some of the younger folk of a group looking visibly impressed at the sarkaari facility and mentioning that they would not mind to take their shots there as well whereupon some senior citizens of the group told them that it is better that they take their shots at private hospitals/centers (making the nominal payment) so that the poor people would not face stock issues at government run centers..

Felt very good to see the strong sense of civic duties in the senior citizen population. Hope it passes on to the next gen..

uddu wrote:If it's 10.4 percent efficacy againt the new variant, does that mean covidshield is now useless and we are back to square one? So what difference it makes whether Covidshield vaccine exists or not other than to ramp up Covaxin production?

The 10.4% efficiency for South Afrian variant is against mild to moderate form of the disease. There are no data yet on the protection against severe disease.

Against South African variant

Anecdote: Beds in private hospitals are close to being filled up in various cities in GJ. Remedesvir usage has gone up.

There’s no, no, no, no, no plan for fresh lockdown: Gujarat CM is live address
https://www.deshgujarat.com/2021/03/21/ ... -citizens/

Private hospitals going slow, affecting vaccine campaign

In my humble opinion, there is a need to increase compensation to private facilities.

Anecdotally, there is a big surge going on in Gujarat. Have heard of more than dozen families who have contracted it in the last week. We are going to see a lot of new cases in the next days. Should also boost demand for vaccination.

What went wrong in Mah? Since we are still in dark on why the cases fell down precipitously and why the cases are rising again, some of the following are valid conjectures as any other.

1. Transmission is lower outside than inside. Case in point, electoral rallies and singhur demo does not lead to a very sharp spike.
2. Transmission is lower inside in a larger stadia compared to closed spaces. Case in point sports activity in open air stadium vs bars
3. Transmission is higher in an enclosed, air circulated space than in a well ventilated indoor space*

The last one is interesting. By conjecture 3, all aircrafts should have higher transmittivity. However that is not the case. Since in aircraft, the protocols entail that the air is filtered, masks are kept on and even on long distance flights the food trays arrive such a way that while one is chomping on the food the other passenger with one seat distance in between is looking on waiting for his/her turn with mask on.

The other side of the conjecture 3 does bear out. That is, in enclosed spaces tight spaces where the air is not filtered and no outside air circulation, like in bars and high-end restaurants, churches and mosques, transmittivity is higher.

4. Mask and social distancing help

Given that, in Mah we have to be candid. Just like tableeghis and thookers went around spreading the virus, so did the hafta vasuli of the Mah Gov. It is out in open that Mah government wanted to do hafta vasuli and threw open bars and restaurants and parties in enclosed spaces. Could that have led to the second wave?

We are one year into the pandemic and have two vaccines (and more on the way), we do know the protocols to bring down the transmission and we do know the therapeutic options post infection. Hence to just blindly go for lockdown and similar blunt measures is going to be counter productive.

At this point fear, gloom and doom is unnecessary. What is required is sane and objective evaluation and appropriate action.

---

Thanks to the posters putting their experiences of vaccinations in India. Looks like the kinks have been ironed out. Scale is slowly being ramped up. This gives hope.

How much do these private hospitals get paid for administering the vaccine? (My sis and BiL got their shots in HYD at a private hospital and paid only Rs 150 each. Dont know if the Private hospitals get their vaccine dose free from the govt.

When there are money based darshan lines in religious places, there should not be any different situation when it comes to vaccination. When GoI has no issue with people going bankrupt at private hospitals, then there should not be any issue is private party wants to charge more and push out vaccines. Even simple routine diagnostic visits are costing in thousands to people so if 300 Rs doubles the supply and delivery then it should not be a problem. No brownie points for coming out with the cheapest vaccine delivery metrics when money leaves from other pockets.

MH today accounts for over 30K new infections and 99 new deaths. Overall India today was 47K new infections and 217 new deaths. Action needs to be taken in MH immediately in five districts. This will spill over into neighboring states of MP and GJ.

42,015 Pune
29,771 Nagpur
22,081 Mumbai
19,788 Thane
15,619 Nashik

Parts of MP are seeing lockdown on Sunday and then curfews at night.

Article from last week about situation in Pune.
It’s Time To Open

462K vaccinations on Sunday. Total officially over 45 million now.

I think it's worth redoing the Saturday and Sunday vaccination programs into a 2-day mass vaccination program for 4-6hrs each day, with little or no restrictions. That would generate far greater vaccination numbers than the present Sat+Sun totals, which are typically in the 3 million range over 2 days.

Suraj wrote:462K vaccinations on Sunday. Total officially over 45 million now.

I think it's worth redoing the Saturday and Sunday vaccination programs into a 2-day mass vaccination program for 4-6hrs each day, with little or no restrictions. That would generate far greater vaccination numbers than the present Sat+Sun totals, which are typically in the 3 million range over 2 days.

Agree.. Why do you think Sat-Sun slowdowns are there? It must be something to do with hospitals. Usually people would have more time on Sat-Sun to visit a hospital for a vaccination. Do you think it could be just a data issue?

Well, slowdown is on Sundays. Not Saturday and Sunday. I guess mainly because there are less venues open?

sudeepj wrote: Agree.. Why do you think Sat-Sun slowdowns are there? It must be something to do with hospitals. Usually people would have more time on Sat-Sun to visit a hospital for a vaccination. Do you think it could be just a data issue?

My parents were unable to get vaccination done on Sunday in Mumbai. They tried a few of the private hospitals and vaccination centers near their home and were told that the vaccinations were closed on Sunday. This was about a couple of weeks ago. They tried again on Monday and it went smoothly.

AstraZeneca vaccine found to be 79% effective in U.S. trial, ‘no increased risk’ of blood clots

The findings of a large U.S. trial have shown that the coronavirus vaccine developed by AstraZeneca and the University of Oxford is 79% effective in preventing symptomatic illness and 100% effective against severe disease and hospitalization.

The safety and efficacy analysis of the vaccine, published Monday, was based on 32,449 participants from a Phase 3 trial.

https://www.pib.gov.in/PressReleseDetai ... ID=1706597

Centre writes to States/UTs to Increase the Interval between two doses of COVISHIELD to 4-8 weeks based on NTAGI and NEGVAC Recommendation

Protection enhanced if the second dose of COVISHIELD is administered between 6-8 weeks

My experience was not so smooth for my father and mother-in-law, (my mom, inspite of comorbidities, is 59+few months old, hence not currently eligible).
Day 1 Attempt 1 : Appointment taken for everyone with me as designated driver for morning slot. Reached destination to find a huge crowd of 350+ people assembled at the Hospital in a densely populated suburb of Pune , at around 10 am. They are receiving only limited supply of vaccines, between 100 or 200, and appointments were not being honored. Security was shooing everyone away. Apparently, even with appointment, you need to show up at 7 AM and queue up for a token amongst hundreds of others.
Attempt2 Day 1 : Drove to another hospital in a bylane thats known, was greeted by a board saying no vaccines received today, no vaccination would take place.
Attempt3 : Drove to a smaller hospital near my home, repeat story of attempt 1. Dejected and came back.

Came back and made inquiries in the society whatsapp group to be told of similar experiences by everyone. Finally, my father got a call from a neighbour who has close contacts amongst the business community here, and was told to try in Assembly constituences where INC/NCP candidates were elected and not the main city, which is saffron. Incredulous and dismissive at this theory, I messaged a friend with very close contacts in a neighbouring constituency hospital. He pulled me into a common chat, and was assured of plenty of supply of Covishield, with 5-10 minute wait. Since it was late, did not try on that day as with the traffic would take us ages to reach.

Day2 Attempt 4 : Weighed pros and cons of driving again in traffic, and decided to try a private hospital which falls under a large university within the Bhor Assembly constituence (INC). Reached, got the jab (COVISHIELD) for father and the in-law with 10 minutes of reaching. Was informed for mother that even though she makes a very strong case for vaccination based on the resident doctor's assessment, her diabetes history didnt go quite far back to fit in that narrow list of comorbidities and hence she cannot be vaccinated. Well, will wait.

sajo wrote:Finally, my father got a call from a neighbour who has close contacts amongst the business community here, and was told to try in Assembly constituences where INC/NCP candidates were elected and not the main city. Incredulous and dismissive at this theory, I messaged a friend with very close contacts in a neighbouring constituency hospital. He pulled me into a common chat, and was assured of plenty of supply of Covishield, with 5-10 minute wait. Since it was late, did not try on that day as with the traffic would take us ages to reach.

No wonder MH is doing so badly and dragging the country-wise statistics down. Incompetence at all levels.

My father in Chennai simply walked into the nearest govt-run PHC and got a Covishield jab. Was home within the hour, after a 30 minute observation post-injection. Ditto for his siblings.

arshyam wrote: No wonder MH is doing so badly and dragging the country-wise statistics down. Incompetence at all levels.

My father in Chennai simply walked into the nearest govt-run PHC and got a Covishield jab. Was home within the hour, after a 30 minute observation post-injection. Ditto for his siblings.

I am reading that TN is vaccinating all people above 18. Any idea if this is with proper techniques like COWIN registration or simply fast-tracking everything due to political compulsions ?
See details below :
https://twitter.com/narayananh/status/1 ... 61856?s=20

More such experiences around twitter.

AFAIK, the stocks are tracked, so I'd expect them to follow the procedure - register in Cowin, provide a follow-up date, issue the partial certificate (these were all done when my folks went in). Plus, many people would ask for the certificate if not given, and some news would come out in SM. Let's see.

I haven't heard anything officially about this, it is probably to use up existing stocks at the local level before they expire.

arshyam wrote: No wonder MH is doing so badly and dragging the country-wise statistics down. Incompetence at all levels.

That seems like malice rather than incompetence. Constituencies which voted for INC/NCP candidates getting more vaccines than the ones which voted for BJP, if I understood correctly. Of course, this is MH, and nothing should surprise us at this point.

Just being charitable saar... I feel for the people of MH, not sure what they did to deserve being back-stabbed by this dispensation.

Something people here have been asking for, though the photo also shows the risk with such an approach.

Vaccination camp at Nehru stadium - TNIE

CHENNAI: The Chennai Corporation has set up a special Covid-19 vaccination camp at Jawaharlal Nehru Indoor Stadium, which aims to vaccinate around 2,500-3,000 people on Saturdays. It has 10 medical crews headed by senior doctors and other paramedical staff; and will also have 20 beds along with ambulances and emergency facilities.

Corporation commissioner G Prakash, said that it was a walk-in facility and shall be used by office-goers and others who may not be able to find the time to get a jab during weekdays. “Depending on the experience here, we have also planned similar special camps at spacious premises in other parts of the city, like the trade centre in Nandambakkam.

We may also extend it to Sundays,” Prakash said. At present, there are around 350 vaccination centres in the city including PHCs, community healthcare centres, government hospitals, mini clinics, and private hospitals. Around 30,000 people are being vaccinated on a daily basis. On Saturday alone, as many as 14,800 tests were done.

“People should volunteer to get vaccinated. In the next 45 days, we aim to vaccinate 25-30 lakh people in the city, after which, there will be a sharp decline in the caseload,” Prakash added. In the next phase, other frontline workers like housemaids, hotel waiters, cab, and auto drivers may get vaccinated since they come in contact with several people everyday during their course of work, he said. A request from the bankers’ associations to also include them under this category is being considered.

nachiket wrote:

arshyam wrote: No wonder MH is doing so badly and dragging the country-wise statistics down. Incompetence at all levels.

That seems like malice rather than incompetence. Constituencies which voted for INC/NCP candidates getting more vaccines than the ones which voted for BJP, if I understood correctly. Of course, this is MH, and nothing should surprise us at this point.

Please see the initial pace vs current pace of a large hospital. 11k+ vaccinated since 1st March, but only 200 or so per day since last week, or barely a thousand people since. This is from the COWIN Tracker. Note that the initial FLW/HCW are not included as they have their own listing.

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Most other centers seem to have done 0 vaccination today, for eg Jayabai Sutar is the only Govt hospital in State BJP President Chandrakant Patil's constituency.

State Government offices in India work 6 days a week, and even some central government offices too. Sunday is the day employees are off, as they need a day of rest and take care of family. The vaccine is being distributed by central and state governments. There are few to none employees available on Sunday. It is also important to note that many government employees get alternate Saturday’s off and that would account for the slightly lower vaccination numbers on that day.

There is room for privatization of vaccine distribution and administration on weekends by government contract where the public is not charged a nominal Rs. 200-250 for a shot.

If the government opens it up to above 40 age group then it should allow large employers to do it on site. It will be more efficient and quicker that way and they can do family members as well. Payment can be done through salary deduction as well...

I suspect that government does not have enough stocks available to open this up though. The gap between two shots has now been increased as well.

As for MAH, I won’t be surprised if MVA is selling it on the black market..

FACTBOX-India's many COVID-19 vaccine manufacturing deals

NEW DELHI, March 22 (Reuters) - India is the world's biggest
maker of vaccines and its companies have signed deals to
manufacture or sell billions of doses of various coronavirus
shots.
Here are the production or marketing details announced by
the companies, some of whom are also developing their own
vaccines:

It would be interesting to cross check this new wave of infected population against the first dose vaccinated ones.

darshan wrote:It would be interesting to cross check this new wave of infected population against the first dose vaccinated ones.

and to see how many of them developed a severe disease versus mild-moderate disease. The clinical results so far have shown a remarkable effect of the vaccine in eliminating a severe form of the disease.

I'm seeing many more from my contacts than I had anticipated in GJ hospitals. All are old aged and most with the first dose taken. Most think that they will be out of the hospital and have shown interest in ayurveda side to survive after leaving the hospital. There have been many cases where people have left the hospital and then have died during the recovery. That is what their biggest worry is. None seem to be able to pin point what got them infected. They had done their best to survive so far. Hopefully GoI is already looking into this to make sure that vaccination sites aren't the cause.

Increase Interval between two doses of COVISHIELD to 4-8 weeks: Centre to States
https://www.deshgujarat.com/2021/03/22/ ... to-states/

darshan wrote: None seem to be able to pin point what got them infected.

I don't know about your contacts in GJ, but every one was pretty much acting like virus is gone over the past month.

sajo wrote:

arshyam wrote: No wonder MH is doing so badly and dragging the country-wise statistics down. Incompetence at all levels.

My father in Chennai simply walked into the nearest govt-run PHC and got a Covishield jab. Was home within the hour, after a 30 minute observation post-injection. Ditto for his siblings.

I am reading that TN is vaccinating all people above 18. Any idea if this is with proper techniques like COWIN registration or simply fast-tracking everything due to political compulsions ?
See details below :
https://twitter.com/narayananh/status/1 ... 61856?s=20

More such experiences around twitter.

I understand that TN (Chennai) is classifying some people as frontline workers, to get around the age/co-morbidity barrier.

Looking at the photo of TN vaccination site, that site could be one of the causes. Crowiding, no social distancing and wearing masks below the nose.

A total of 19,65,635 vaccine doses were given till 7 p.m. on Monday, the 66th day of nationwide Covid-19 vaccination.

The cumulative number of Covid-19 vaccine doses administered in the country has crossed 4.72 crore on Monday.

Uttam wrote:FACTBOX-India's many COVID-19 vaccine manufacturing deals

Have Pfizer and Moderna refused permission to let other manufacturers make their vaccines? They are conspicuous by their absence in that list.

Uttam wrote:A total of 19,65,635 vaccine doses were given till 7 p.m. on Monday, the 66th day of nationwide Covid-19 vaccination.

The cumulative number of Covid-19 vaccine doses administered in the country has crossed 4.72 crore on Monday.

Very good - reliably >2M per day now. the PIB PR: https://www.pib.gov.in/PressReleasePage ... ID=1706747

Every day of last week (Mon-Sat) was >2M/day. This week has again started on the same trend. Hopefully like last Monday the full day figure will be in excess of 3M.

My own parents are getting vaccinated this week.

Many states are being actively encouraged by the center to increase vaccination rates. I saw the news about HP, Haryana, etc. I am hoping that the average daily rate of vaccination will climb to 3M per day.

Increasing the gap between the two doses of Covidshield is a welcome move. Clinical studies have shown greater efficacy of AstraZeneca's vaccine (Covidshield) when administered over a longer gap between the two doses.

The increased rate of COVID infections has also brought a lot of previously hesitant people to vaccination centers.

India is getting close to the US which has the highest 7-day rolling average of daily vaccinations. I suspect the US will be at nearly 3M/day this week, and India will exceed 2.5M/day.

It seems the Chinese plan to do the most doses is by ensuring their vaccines need the most doses.

^^^Absolutely. Ask Immy the Dimmy.

Covid-19 Vaccine Manufacturing in U.S. Races Ahead

Vaccine makers are expected to produce 132 million doses this month, nearly tripling last month’s figure, boosting vaccination drive

Pfizer figured out how to stretch scarce supplies of special filters needed for the vaccine production process by recycling them. Moderna shortened the time it needed to inspect and package newly manufactured vials of its vaccine.