India could get fourth Covid vaccine as Zydus Cadila set to seek nod for ZyCoV-D newindianexpress.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from newindianexpress.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
ISSUE DATE: May 10, 2021
UPDATED: May 1, 2021 21:54 IST
People queue up to get Covid vaccine shots at an indoor
stadium in Guwahati, April 23, by David Talukdar / NURPHOTO
Beginning May 1, the Great Indian Vaccine Rollout will now cover millions of people in the 18-44 age bracket across the country in the inoculation drive against Covid-19. Except that the numbers are humongous and will be a lot more challenging than holding a general election or even taking a citizens’ headcount in the decadal Census. When it was launched on January 16, the phased rollout of the programme was in sync with the availability of Covid vaccines in the country. The first priority was the healthcare and frontline workers dealing with the pandemic. Then it was the turn of those above 60 years where mortality rates were the highest for the virus. So far, so good. The nation could easily meet the demand as vaccine hesitancy saw only half the numbers of the eligible group enrol. The ready availability of
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As India grapples with a massive second wave of coronavirus infections, the country’s pharmaceutical industry is under pressure to deliver vaccines and medicines.
Dubbed the ‘pharmacy of the world’, India’s sprawling pharmaceutical factories were expected to supply the bulk of Covid-19 vaccines and medicines to the world. But a record jump in coronavirus cases in a country of more than 1.3 billion people is putting the sector under strain. India’s health ministry on Saturday reported another 346,786 new Covid-19 infections.
“The pharmaceutical industry does need to ramp up its infrastructure to facilitate higher production of essential [drugs and vaccines],” says Dr Nikhil Mathur, the chief of medical services at Care Group of Hospitals.
The vaccine crisis 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.