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Covid-19 Vaccine Matters: Vaccination drive gathers pace but 'jab politics' takes centrestage

All you need to know about the coronavirus and vaccination front right now
Last Updated 23 July 2021, 11:02 IST

As the fear of third Covid-19 wave looms large, the Centre has been stressing on rapid vaccination and continuation of appropriate behaviour. The government has also been trying to address concerns on vaccine availability and distribution as Opposition parties continue to charge it with mismanagement.

Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya on Friday appealed to Opposition parties not to play politics on the issue of Covid-19 vaccines. Responding to supplementaries during Question Hour in Lok Sabha, the minister said the government is still in talks with US company Pfizer with respect to making its vaccine available in India.

Under the Centre's new vaccination drive, which kickstarted on June 21, India administered 13.78 crore doses of Covid-19 vaccines within a month. The total number of doses administered as of June 20 was a little over 28 crore, while the number crossed to 41.78 crore on July 21.

The first day of the new vaccination drive on June 21 had witnessed a record number of 86 lakh vaccinations. The daily number of vaccine doses administered dipped thereafter but stabilised around an average of 40 lakh doses every day.

Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh have administered more than one crore cumulative doses of Covid-19 vaccine in the age group 18-44 years. With only one lakh people out of Goa's 15 lakh population are yet to have taken the first Covid vaccine jab, the state government aims to complete 100 per cent vaccination (first jab) by July 31.

Meanwhile, a marginal surge in Covid-19 Test Positivity Rate (TPR) in Kerala over the last few days is triggering concerns about whether the state is heading for a third wave or whether the state is paying the price for unscientific easing of relaxations. Experts noted that if the increasing trend continues for some more days, and the margin of increase also goes up, then the state needs to be alert of the onset of a third wave. But the present marginal increase could be the outcome of the easing of lockdown norms unscientifically, as well as people ignoring Covid protocols.

With the Delta variant of Covid-19 now being the dominant strain worldwide, a new study from the Pasteur Institute in France found that the variant is less sensitive to neutralising antibodies (the Y-shaped proteins that latch onto the coronavirus and stop it from entering our cells). However, many studies have shown that vaccines are still effective against the fast-spreading variant.

Even the World Health Organization has urged people to again wear masks indoors – even those who are fully vaccinated as the Delta variant continues to be prevalent among new infections. The WHO’s call is primarily intended to protect the unvaccinated – which includes children under age 12 who are not yet eligible for vaccines. Unvaccinated people are at a substantially higher risk of getting infected with and transmitting SARS-CoV-2, and of developing complications from Covid-19.

As worry over impact of vaccines on new variants of Covid-19 is gathering pace, experts in the US have signalled they're hunting for ways to quickly learn if a third Covid-19 vaccine dose might better protect organ transplant recipients and other patients with weak immune systems.

Meanwhile, the Serum Institute of India (SII) wrote to Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya suggesting reforms in the existing drug regulatory system, including allowing manufacturing and stockpiling of non-Covid vaccines while undergoing clinical trial.

On vaccine gaps, a British study found that a longer gap between doses of Pfizer's Covid-19 vaccine leads to higher overall antibody levels than a shorter gap but there is a sharp drop in antibody levels after the first dose. The study might help inform vaccination strategies against the Delta variant, which reduces the effectiveness of a first dose of Covid-19 vaccine even though two doses are still protective.

The UK has been witnessing a surge in people who have had two doses of a coronavirus vaccine being admitted to hospital with Covid. At first glance, this rings very serious alarm bells, but experts say it shouldn’t as vaccines are still working very well.

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(Published 23 July 2021, 09:19 IST)

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