Published 21:08 IST, February 12th 2021
Centre sets March 6 deadline to complete 1st round COVID vaccination of frontline workers
Setting a deadline for completing vaccinating frontline workers by March 6, Union Health Ministry said atleast one round of vaccination must be scheduled
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Setting a deadline for completing vaccinating frontline workers by March 6, Union Joint Health Secretary Mandeep Bhandari on Friday, said at least one round of vaccination must be scheduled by March 1. Stating those who have t been vaccinated for any reason must be vaccinated by March 6, he said that scheduling of first round of vaccination of healthcare workers must be scheduled by February 20 and completed by February 25. As of date, India has vaccinated 77,66,319 beneficiaries of which 58,65,813 are healthcare workers.
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Centre sets March 6 vaccination deadline
Bhandari added, "Hospitalisation recorded to date as a part of COVID vaccination is 33. Of which, 21 discharged from hospital, 2 under treatment & 10 deaths recorded. Percent of hospitalisation as against total vaccinations constitutes 0.0004%. new event of hospitalisation reported in last 24 hours is a case of anaphylaxis, which was treated at Murshidabad Medical College & Hospital in West Bengal & has been since discharged from hospital".
India's vaccination drive fastest
On Thursday, India achieved ar landmark as it became fastest country in world to administer 7 million COVID-vaccines doses - in 26 days. In comparison, US took 27 days and Britain took 48 days to accomplish this figures, stated Ministry of Health and Family welfare. UK and US, both kick-started ir iculation drives in December.
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DCGI gives d to COVISHIELD & COVAXIN
On January 3, Drug Controller General of India (DCGI) VG Somani anunced that vaccines of Serum Institue of India (Covishield) and Bharat Biotech (Covaxin) have been granted permission for restricted use in an emergency situation. Covishield - a Recombinant Chimpanzee Adevirus vector vaccine - has an efficacy of 70.42%, with interim safety and immugenicity data of Phase-II/III trials submitted to SEC. Covaxin - a Whole Virion Inactivated Corona Virus Vaccine - 22,500 participants vaccinated in Phase-III trials and was found to be safe as per data available till date. Meanwhile, Zydus-Cadilla's nCov-Vaccine using DNA platform techlogy has been allowed to conduct Phase-III clinical trial in 26000 Indian participants. Apart from se vaccines, ar vaccine candidate - Sputnik V - produced by Russian government-Dr. Reddy's Labs has sought to continue phase-3 clinical trials and Bharat Biotech has sought to conduct phase-1 trials of nasal COVID-19 vaccine.
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21:08 IST, February 12th 2021