Vaccine

Bihar CM Nitish urges Centre to provide fresh Covid-19 vaccine stocks

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Friday urged the Centre to provide fresh stocks of COVID vaccine vials so that administering of jabs, which is currently on hold, could be resumed. Talking to reporters here on the sidelines of a function, he also asserted that his government was "alert" in view of rising incidence of COVID cases in some parts of the country, though Bihar was not one of them. "Our testing rate is much higher than the national average, which is six lakh tests per one million people. We are conducting eight lakh tests. Bihar accounts for about one fourth of the total number of tests conducted across the country", claimed Kumar. He underscored that the current spike was noticed in those parts of the country which were the worst affected when the coronavirus had caused a global pandemic. "In Bihar cases are very few but we are alert, nonetheless. In places like hospitals wearing of masks is being reinforced. We were also carrying out vaccination till our supply drie

Few vaccination centres running amid steady surge in Covid-19 cases

230 of the 296 sites are private; people can now opt for mix-and-match doses of Corbevax and iNCOVACC

90% cattle vaccinated against lumpy skin disease in Punjab, says minister

Punjab's animal husbandry department is close to achieving 100 per cent vaccination of the 25 lakh cattle in the state against lumpy skin disease (LSD) and has inoculated more than 22 lakh of them. In an official statement issued on Saturday, Animal Husbandry Minister Laljit Singh Bhullar said the vaccination drive is nearing completion ahead of the April 30 deadline. "The vaccination drive for early protection of cattle from LSD was initiated on a war footing on February 15, 2023 with 773 dedicated veterinary teams of the animal husbandry department," he said. "We have completed 90 per cent vaccination till date, with more than 22,58,300 cattle already vaccinated," the minister said, adding the Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann-led government has set a target of vaccinating all the 25 lakh cattle in the state under this mega campaign. Principal Secretary, Animal Husbandry, Vikas Pratap said the department had set a daily target of administering 40,000 vaccine doses and has achieved it

Wockhardt plans to roll out two vaccines from UK plant in a year

Drug firm Wockhardt plans to roll out two vaccines within a year from its UK-based facility as part of a tie-up with Serum Institute of India, a top company official said. Last year, a Wockhardt unit tied up with a subsidiary of Serum Institute of India to set up a vaccine manufacturing facility in Wrexham, North Wales (UK). "Serum has identified two vaccines and we plan to manufacture these products within the next 12 months after exhibit batches and regulatory approval is received," Wockhardt Managing Director and Global CEO Murtaza Khorakiwala said in an analyst call. Elaborating on the tie-up, he noted that the company has already concluded an agreement with Serum and as a result of that Wockhardt has received 10 million pounds as a contribution for reserving the manufacturing facility for 150 million doses per year of vaccine for 15 years. "This is 150 million doses per year for about a 15-year agreement. And in addition to a contract manufacturing, there is a joint venture ..

IIT Delhi researcher develop next-gen vaccine using body's own immune cells

It was found that this antigen was more effective than free antigens in producing antibodies against the Covid-19 virus

Bharat Biotech rolls out India's first intra-nasal Covid vaccine iNCOVACC

Priced at Rs 800/dose for private players, Rs 325 for bulk procurement by govts

Production of vaccine against cervical cancer to be boosted: Poonawalla

A day after the first indigenously developed Human Papillomavirus vaccine against cervical cancer was launched, Serum Institute of India CEO Adar Poonawalla on Wednesday said the vaccine will be available in small quantity this year and its production will be boosted next year to take care of the needs of the nation. Speaking on the sidelines of an event after presenting the vaccine to Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya, Poonawalla said the vaccine 'CERVAVAC' will be made available through the government programme this year. The vaccine for 9-14-year-old was launched on Tuesday in the presence of Union Home Minister Amit Shah, Poonawalla, and Director of Government and Regulatory Affairs at Serum Institute of India, Prakash K Singh. It will be available at a much lower price than the internationally branded vaccines available in the market, Singh had said earlier. The vaccine will be included in the National Immunisation Programme by mid-2023, government officials had said.

Govt launches U-WIN to digitise India's universal immunisation programme

Carrying vaccination cards of children and pregnant women, struggling to keep a tab on the next jab and other such hassles may soon become a thing of the past. After the success of the Co-WIN platform, the government has now replicated it to set up an electronic registry for routine vaccinations. Named U-WIN, the programme to digitise India's Universal Immunisation Programme (UIP) has been launched in a pilot mode in two districts of each state and Union Territory. The platform will be used to register and vaccinate every pregnant woman, record her delivery outcome, register every newborn delivery, administer birth doses and all vaccination events thereafter, official sources told PTI. The platform that replicates Co-WIN, which has served as the "digital backbone" for India's COVID-19 vaccination programme, was launched on January 11 in 65 districts. The U-WIN is going to be the single source of information for immunisation services, updating vaccination status, delivery outcome, .

SII seeks inclusion of Covovax in CoWIN portal as booster dose for adults

Covovax is manufactured through technology transfer from Novavax

India in advanced stage to deliver on global plan for TB vaccine: Mandaviya

Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya extended his full support for a global plan for a new tuberculosis vaccine by 2025 and said India is fully prepared and in an advanced stage for taking this forward

Govt exempts customs duty on imports of Covid-19 vaccines till March 31

Currently, Covid vaccines administered in India include Covishield, Covaxin, Sputnik V, Corbevax and Covovax

Acceptance of Covid vaccines increased globally to 79.1% in 2022: Study

Acceptance of COVID-19 vaccines increased globally, from 75.2 per cent in 2021 to 79.1 per cent in 2022, according to a survey in 23 countries that represent more than 60 per cent of the world's population. The study underlines a wide variability among countries and the need for tailored communication strategies in addressing vaccine hesitancy. It was led by the Barcelona Institute for Global Health (ISGlobal), Spain, and the City University of New York Graduate School of Public Health and Health Policy (CUNY SPH), US. However, vaccine acceptance decreased in eight countries and almost one in eight vaccinated respondents, particularly younger men and women, were hesitant about receiving a booster dose, the study said. The findings have been published in Nature Medicine. "The pandemic is not over, and authorities must urgently address vaccine hesitancy and resistance as part of their COVID-19 prevention and mitigation strategy," says Jeffrey V Lazarus, Head of the Health Systems ...

Govt panel may decide on Covovax as heterologous booster dose for adults

An expert panel of the central drugs regulatory authority is likely to take a decision on Wednesday on granting market authorisation to SII's COVID-19 vaccine Covovax as a heterologous booster dose for adults who have been administered two doses of Covishield or Covaxin, official sources said. The Subject Expert Committee of the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO) is scheduled to meet on January 11. Prakash Kumar Singh, Director of Government and Regulatory Affairs at the Serum Institute of India (SII), had written a letter to the the Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) recently for the approval to Covovax as a heterologous booster dose for adults in view of the escalating pandemic situation in some countries, an official source told. The DCGI had approved Covovax for restricted use in emergency situations for adults on December 28, 2021, for those in the 12-17 age group on March 9, 2022, and also in children aged 7- 11 years on June 28, 2022, subject to certai

Clinical trials of new BCG vaccine for TB to start soon: Former CSIR chief

Clinical trials of a new BCG vaccine for tuberculosis will soon start in India, former director-general of the Council of Scientific & Industrial Research (CSIR) Dr Shekhar Mande said on Friday. He was speaking at the ongoing Indian Science Congress here. Earlier in the day, Dr Mande gave a presentation on Biophysical Methods in Tuberculosis Research' and spoke about how technology has helped doctors and researchers understand TB better, paving ways to combat the infectious disease. The CSIR is working towards rapid diagnosis, vaccination and treatment to eliminate the bacterial disease from India by 2025 as envisioned by the government, he said, speaking to reporters later. We are mainly focussing on new medicines and drugs for tuberculosis. We are doing background work and setting targets on research for prevention of tuberculosis, he said The National Institute of Tuberculosis Research, Chennai, will start clinical trials of the new BCG vaccine for TB, he said. Bacillus ...

All you need to know about world's first nasal vaccine for covid

India's nasal vaccine not for those who have taken booster: NTAGI chairman

The Indian nasal vaccine cannot be given to those who have allready taken a precaution or booster dose, the head of the country's vaccine task force said

We aim to be one of India's top CDMO, API players: Advent's Shweta Jalan

'Suven alone has multiple engines of growth across all segments and a strong pipeline of Phase 3 and late Phase 2 molecules'

Covid-19: Bharat Biotech's nasal vaccine gets govt nod as booster shot

The approval for the vaccine comes amid a spurt in Covid cases in China and some other countries

As Covid-19 cases fall, Indians drag feet to get their booster shots

Less than 30,000 booster doses daily in December, vaccine coverage flat for two months

DCGI approves Biological E's 14-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine

PCV14 may be administered to infants 6, 10 and 14 weeks of age in 3 doses