Many countries are trying to secure anti-COVID-19 doses from India, the world's largest manufacturer of vaccines. But India's domestic vaccination demand is also huge.
India has signed the much-awaited first purchase agreement for the government-sponsored Covid vaccination programme with Pune-based Serum Institute of India. Talks were on with Hyderabad-headquartered Bharat Biotech till the time of going to press. The nationwide vaccination drive is starting on January 16. According to sources, Serum Institute, which is manufacturing the AstraZeneca-Oxford vaccine, is likely to supply around 11 million doses of Covishield in the first lot to the Centre for Rs 200 per dose. Pricing for Covaxin from Bharat Biotech is being negotiated, a person close to the development said. The companies declined to comment on the matter. The first consignment of vaccines is likely to be shipped by air on Tuesday morning, said people in the know. Serum Institute had earlier indicated that it would price the vaccine at Rs 200 per dose for the first 100 million doses it supplies to the government. For the private market, however, the vaccine would cost around Rs 1,
India Today reporter Kumar Abhishek gets second dose of Bharat Biotech s Covaxin as part of Phase 3
India Today reporter Kumar Abhishek gets second dose of Bharat Biotech s Covaxin as part of Phase 3 trials
India Today TV s Kumar Abhishek was the first journalist from Uttar Pradesh who opted for the clinical trials of Bharat Biotech s Covid-19 vaccine Covaxin. He received the first dose in Kanpur on December 11.
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UPDATED: January 10, 2021 17:04 IST
India Today TV reporter Kumar Abhishek receiving a shot of Bharat BioTech s Covaxin during its Phase 3 trials in Kanpur
Kumar Abhishek, India Today TV reporter who is participating in Phase 3 of the clinical trials of Bharat Biotech s Covaxin, received the second dose of the Covid-19 vaccine on Saturday. After he was administered two doses of the indigenous coronavirus vaccine within a span of 28 days, Kumar Abhishek is now being kept under observation.
Dr. Dharmakanta Kumbhakar (The writer can be reached at drkdharmakanta@yahoo.com)
The year 2020 will be remembered as a dark year by everyone around the world for Covid-19 pandemic. The whole world fought a battle against Covid-19 in 2020. The world had no idea how to respond to an unknown deadly novel coronavirus. Globally, over 80 million people were infected across 218 countries and 1.78 million people lost the battle in 2020. India also recorded 1.02 crore confirmed Covid-19 cases of which 1.48 lakh died in 2020. Of course, by achieving 96.16% recovery rate and 1.45% fatality rate from Covid-19, India has showcased its resilience against the pandemic before the world. However, the threat of Covid-19 is not yet over and challenges of the Covid-19 pandemic may continue in 2021. Majority of the European countries are still getting severely affected. Globally 8,76,40,402 confirmed Covid-19 cases and 18,91,692 deaths have been reported till January 7, 2021. With 20,428 new Covid-19 c