Unlike the earlier waves, this time infections are rising in smaller cities like Nashik, Aurangabad, Nanded and Ahmednagar and even the surrounding rural areas
NEW DELHI: India’s huge capacity to make coronavirus vaccines is helping the country take on China in the battle to gain political influence across the developing world.
Competition among poorer nations to get cheap or free vaccines to fight the pandemic had given China a golden chance to strengthen ties in emerging markets it has been courting for years. And initially Beijing seemed in a strong position. It suppressed the domestic spread of Covid-19 last year and accelerated the production of shots.
At the same time, India was struggling to contain one of the world’s worst outbreaks of the virus, with nearly 100,000 cases a day, while a nationwide lockdown sent its economy into recession for the first time in 25 years.
Sputnik V has demonstrated an efficacy rate of 91.6 per cent in the interim analysis of its phase 3 clinical trial, which includes data on 19,866 volunteers in Russia.
India News: The vaccination drive against Covid-19 is set to be ramped up, targeting a larger population group of around 26 crore people above 50 years soon as In
Earlier, the independent Data and Safety Monitoring Board (DSMB) had reviewed the safety data from the Phase 2 clinical trial of the vaccine and recommended it for Phase 3 clinical trial.