Billion-dollar plan Almost as if to make up for the lost Trump year during the pandemic, the White House has put together an ambitious new plan with a $65.3 billion price tag that could transform the way the United States responds to pandemics by vastly accelerating vaccine development, testing, and production. But is the plan […]
vaccine
Vaccine drive crosses 55 crore, unused doses remain
According to a provisional report, India’s vaccine drive surpassed the milestone of administering 55 crore and set a record in the last 24 hours. However, many vaccine doses provided to states and union territories remain unused. The past 24 hours saw 88.13 lakh doses administered, taking the cumulative number of shots in arms to 554,730,609 […]
mRNA vaccine in development for malaria – too soon for hype?
BioNTech gained prominent public attention for its collaboration with Pfizer which produced a COVID-19 vaccine using mRNA technology. They have once again hit the headlines – this time setting their sights on malaria. BioNTech’s malaria project is part of the ‘eradicateMalaria’ initiative, led by the kENUP Foundation, to accelerate the eradication of the mosquito-borne disease. […]
Pfizer vaccine talks ongoing with expert group
An expert government panel is in talks regarding the BioNTech / Pfizer vaccine, Union Health Minister Mankush Mandaviya told the Lok Sabha on Friday. The Minister said “an expert group of the Indian government is still in talks with Pfizer over COVID vaccine supply.” United States State Department spokesperson Ned Price has announced that the […]
Millions in India missing vaccination doses
An estimated 3.5 million children missed out on their first dose of diphtheria-tetanus-pertussis combined vaccine (DTP-1) in India in 2020, according to data from the World Health Organisation (WHO). Three million more children missed their first dose of the measles vaccination. Such were the effects of the initial wave of the COVID-19 pandemic that health […]
Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine: Less effective against Delta variant?
The Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine against COVID-19 has registered a lower level of efficacy in preventing the Delta variant first identified in India, according to new data from Israel. Effectiveness of the vaccine has dropped to 64 percent in preventing infection as the Delta variant spreads in Israel, now accounting for ninety percent of the country’s cases. […]
Inoculation record achieved, but concerns remain
Monday saw India administer a record 8.3 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine. Nonetheless, concerns remain surrounding the pace of an inoculation campaign once billed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi as set to be the largest in the world. “Today’s record-breaking vaccination numbers are gladdening,” Modi tweeted. “The vaccine remains our strongest weapon to fight COVID-19. […]
Patent waivers unlikely to resolve COVID-19 vaccine crisis
Patent waivers for COVID-19 vaccines have been offered up as a suggestion as a means to address the global crisis. While in theory this would allow a shift in production from high-income nations to developing countries, achieving this requires overcoming a significant hurdle – a lack of production capacity. Recently, World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General […]
Historic vaccine rollout hampered by misinformation?
India’s historic vaccine rollout seeking to inoculate its 1.3 billion+ population against the novel coronavirus launched last Saturday. However, there is some reluctance among those prioritised to receive the jab in the first phase. Rollout of India’s vaccination campaign against severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) – the novel coronavirus that causes COVID-19 – […]
Global Ebola vaccine stockpile established
A global stockpile has been established of the Ebola vaccine in an effort to provide the capacity to rapidly react to incidents of international spread of the disease, as well as curb current outbreaks. The effort was orchestrated by the International Coordinating Group (ICG) on Vaccine Provision, which includes the World Health Organization (WHO), UNICEF, […]