Time to reduce 12-16 week gap between two doses of Covishield? Here s what experts say indiatoday.in - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from indiatoday.in Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
India’s hopes to administer two billion doses of Covid-19 vaccines between August and December have received a boost with a new US-made vaccine to be produced in India by the Serum Institute showing high protective efficacy.
The US-based vaccine maker Novavax announced on Monday that its protein-based Covid-19 vaccine has demonstrated 90.4 per cent efficacy against the novel coronavirus infection and 100 per cent efficacy against moderate and severe disease.
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The vaccine also showed 93 per cent efficacy against predominantly circulating variants of concern (VoC) or variants of interest (VoI), the company added, reporting the results of a clinical trial on over 29,900 participants at 119 sites across the US and Mexico.
Reporting for this story was supported by the Pulitzer Center.
Wajid Kadar Khan, who lives in a Mumbai slum, received a COVID-19 vaccine only because his job required it. His wife, Mumtaz (left), says she didn t need one because “I have God.”
PHOTO: RAJA SENGUPTA
On a Sunday morning in early April, as Mumbai was in a daze from the first weeks of a surge of COVID-19 and had instituted nighttime curfews, Baliram Boomkar asked his neighbors in the city s Kaula Bandar slum whether they wanted a vaccine to protect them or had received one. Some replied that they had been vaccinated but only because their employers required it. One man said he d get the shot if his company gave him time off to recover from side effects. “COVID is nothing,” he said. “People are only spreading rumors. It s all a lie.” A woman said she was afraid a clinic might test her for COVID-19, find she s positive, and then force her to quarantine as happened last year. “I know I can t avoid the vaccine
After 20 people were given mixed doses of Covishield and Covaxin in UP's Siddharthnagar district, the negligence of doctors and health department has now sparked a debate over use of cocktail of vaccines for treating Covid-19.
Debate brews over vaccine cocktail after 20 in UP village vaccinated with both Covishield Covaxin Kumar Abhishek
In Uttar Pradesh s Avadhikala village, 50 km from Siddharthnagar, at least 20 people were administered with mixed doses of Covishield and Covaxin. This negligence at the doctors and health department s end has now sparked a debate over the use of cocktail of vaccines to eliminate Covid-19.
The auxiliary nursing midwifery (ANM) has been suspended for negligence and those vaccinated are being monitored. The district magistrate told India Today that it was wrong to assess the entire department due to negligence of one employee. The doctors who were present are also being investigated.