Covid-19 Vaccine Matters: Indian children likely to get jabbed soon

Taking a step ahead in initiating Covid-19 vaccination for children, an Indian drug regulatory panel recommended emergency use of Bharat Biotech’s Covaxin in the age group of 2-18 years. The recommendation came after trials were carried out on 525 children. However, the results of the clinical trial are yet to be published in a peer-reviewed journal.

In a bid to increase vaccine exports, the Centre is building up a stockpile of Covid vaccine doses with 250 million shots prepared and three more vaccines being worked upon. The development came as India resumed its vaccine exports.

A recent study claimed that the risk of Covid-19 infection reduces for people whose family members are fully vaccinated. The research, published in the journal JAMA Internal Medicine, found that there was a dose-response association between the number of immune individuals in each family and the risk of infection and hospitalisation in non-immune family members.

While some of the nations have started administering a third dose of the vaccine to select citizens, India said that it has no plans to give booster shots as of now. More than 15 countries worldwide have begun issuing booster doses to older citizens, including in Israel and European Union nations including France, Italy and Germany.

As India is inching close to achieve the milestone of 100 crore vaccine doses, the Centre is reportedly planning to showcase it as a major achievement ahead of the upcoming elections. Under the mega outreach plan, BJP leaders have been asked to visit vaccination centres that clocked 100 per cent vaccination and share videos and photographs of the events with the main focus on poll-bound states including Uttar Pradesh and Gujarat.

Reiterating the need to speed up vaccination across the globe, IMF chief Kristalina Georgieva said that accelerating the pace of vaccinations worldwide will be key not just to contain the pandemic but also to resolve speed bumps besetting the global economic recovery.

In a major development, Russia's one-shot Sputnik Light vaccine shows 70 per cent effectiveness against the Delta variant of coronavirus three months after injection, the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) said, citing the vaccine's developer.

As the US has decided to administer Covid vaccine booster shots to certain populations, a panel of independent medical experts unanimously recommended Moderna booster shots for many of those who had received the company’s coronavirus vaccine.

As the world is still battling to win over the pandemic, a mystery that has kept the experts puzzled is why the virus is causing more deaths in certain nations compared to other countries despite the same vaccine being administered. While it’s clear vaccines led to a drop in fatalities during the most recent delta variant-driven waves compared with earlier bouts with the virus, some countries saw deaths fall to a greater degree than others, an outcome scientists still don’t have answers for.