Coronavirus vaccine highlights: PM Modi urges everyone to vaccinate, boasts of Indian vaccines' global demand

In India's ambitious vaccination drive against Covid-10, nearly 10 lakh people have been inoculated. This comes amid hesitancy among health workers to get vaccinated due to reports of side effects and deaths, although authorities have said that there is no vaccine link in the latter. India has approved two vaccines — Bharat Biotech's Covaxin and Serum Institute of India's Covishield — for emergency use in the country. Stay tuned for updates.

At least 77.2 per cent health workers took the Covid-19 shots in Maharashtra's Aurangabad district on the fourth day of the vaccination drive, a considerable rise from the previous sessions, an official said on Saturday.

UK doctors call for shorter gap between Pfizer vaccine doses

A group of British doctors have written to England's chief medical officer to tell him to cut the gap between doses of the Pfizer and BioNTech vaccine to six weeks from up to 12.

Britain is prioritising giving first doses of Covid-19 vaccine, allowing up to 12 weeks before a second dose, to give the maximum number of people some initial protection.

(Reuters)

Nearly 14 lakh health workers vaccinated in India so far

Nearly 14 lakh beneficiaries have been vaccinated for Covid-19 in the country, including 3,47,058 in the last 24 hours, the health ministry said on Saturday.

Read more

Vaccinate when your turn comes: PM Modi

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has urged everyone to vaccinate as and when their turn comes. PM Modi was speaking at an event in Sivasagar, Assam.

Modi boasted of the global demand of Made-in-India vaccines. He also said that people must still be cautious and practice Covid-19 protocols.

India reports 14,256 new Covid-19 cases, 152 deaths

Biden, Canada's Trudeau to meet next month, collaborate on vaccines, medical supplies

Canada's Justin Trudeau and USPresident Joe Biden agreed to meet next month, the prime minister's office said on Friday, following a call between the two leaders in which they vowed to join forces to combat coronavirus in North America.

Trudeau, who has been keen to embrace the new president and move on from the often tumultuous Donald Trump years, was the first foreign leader to speak with Biden since Wednesday's inauguration.

The two "recognized that both countries’ fundamental priority is to end the global Covid-19 pandemic," Trudeau's office said in a statement. They also discussed collaboration on vaccines. (Reuters)

US applauds 'true friend' India for gifting Covid-19 vaccine to several countries

Terming India a "true friend" which is using its pharmaceutical sector to help the global community, the US has applauded New Delhi for gifting Covid-19 vaccines to several countries.

In the last few days, India has sent consignments of domestically produced coronavirus vaccines under grant assistance to Bhutan, Maldives, Nepal, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Mauritius and Seychelles. It is also undertaking commercial supplies of the doses to a number of countries, including Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Brazil and Morocco. (PTI)

One new Covid-19 case in Andamans, tally rises to 4,992

Andaman and Nicobar Islands reported only one fresh Covid-19 case in the last 24 hours, pushing the tally in the union territory to 4,992, a health department official said on Saturday.

Three more persons were cured of the disease in the last 24 hours, taking the total number of recoveries in the archipelago to 4,907, the official said.

The union territory now has 23 active Covid-19 cases, while 62 people have so far succumbed to the virus. (PTI)

Airport staff considered frontline workers for vaccination: Karnataka govt

The Karnataka government has said that staff members at all airports in the state will be considered frontline workers of Covid-19 and be permitted to get the vaccine on a priority basis. (ANI)

Vaccine boost for poor countries as Biden warns of '600,000 dead'

US President Joe Biden on Friday said "well over 600,000" Americans could die of the coronavirus as he stepped up federal aid in the world's worst-hit country, while less wealthy nations anticipated better access to tests and vaccines thanks to several international deals.

"The virus is surging. We're at 400,000 dead, expected to reach well over 600,000," Biden told a news conference, giving his highest estimate yet for the US outbreak's eventual toll.

His new administration boosted stimulus handouts as well as payments to help families buy food, with more poor children going hungry after the school lunches they depended on disappeared as classrooms shuttered. (AFP)

Pfizer offers 40 mn Covid shots to poorer countries at cost

Pfizer announced Friday that it will provide up to 40 million of its Covid-19 vaccine doses to poorer countries on a non-profit basis, through the globally-pooled Covax facility.

While dozens of the world's richer countries have begun their vaccination campaigns in a bid to curb the pandemic, coronavirus jabs have been few and far between in the world's poorer nations.

Covax — the globally-pooled coronavirus vaccine procurement and equitable distribution effort, aimed at ensuring that lower-income countries get hold of doses, too — is hoping to ship its first deliveries in February. (AFP)

Severe reaction to Moderna vaccine 'rare': US study

Severe allergic reaction to Moderna's Covid-19 vaccine is "rare," US health authorities said Friday, with only 10 cases arising from more than four million first doses.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention also emphasized that widespread vaccination was critical to fighting the coronavirus pandemic.

"Based on this early monitoring, anaphylaxis after receipt of Moderna Covid-19 vaccine appears to be a rare event," the CDC said in a report, indicating that none of the reactions resulted in death.

The CDC data documented the 10 cases of anaphylactic shock among a reported 4,041,396 first doses administered between December 21 and January 10. (AFP)