From the Newsroom: Covid-19 vaccine to cost Centre about Rs 300 per shot; Sourav Ganguly to undergo another angioplasty

In your evening news brief, From The Newsroom, Covid vaccine to cost government around Rs 300; healthcare experts raise questions over Covaxin and Sourav Ganguly will have to undergo another angioplasty.

Here is the top news of January 4, 2021:

As the government has approved for the emergency use of Covaxin, some healthcare experts have questioned the government's claim that Covaxin, which is developed by Bharat Biotech, can target mutated coronavirus strains and maybe used us a "backup".

Experts have asked for the scientific basis for the claim and for the vaccine's safety and efficacy.

Noted virologist Shahid Jameel said that he does not believe that eventually Covaxin would turn out to be safe and show more than 70 per cent efficacy.

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CEO of Serum Institute of India Adar Poonawalla has said that the vaccine developed by AstraZeneca and the University of Oxford will cost Rs 219-292 to the government and will be priced at double that rate in private market ones such sales open up.

Poonawalla told PTI that the company will start selling the Covishield to the Indian government and Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization (GAVI) countries in the first stage, followed by the private market.
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A British judge has rejected the United States' request to extradite WikiLeaks Founder Julian Assange to face espionage charges on mental health grounds, saying his extradition would be “oppressive”.

District Judge Vanessa Baraitser, presiding over the case at the Old Bailey court in London, ruled that Assange was likely to commit suicide if extradited to the US, where he is wanted on 17 espionage charges and one charge of computer misuse over WikiLeaks publication of leaked military and diplomatic documents a decade ago.

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Cricket Board president Sourav Ganguly will have to undergo another angioplasty in a "few days or weeks" but can for now be discharged from hospital as his condition is "stable", the CEO of the Woodlands Hospital Dr Rupali Basu said.

A nine-member board of senior doctors discussed Ganguly's condition and reached a consensus that though necessary, angioplasty can be deferred to a later date as he is stable, she said.

Source: DHNS/ PTI

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That is it today, From the Newsroom. Tune in tomorrow morning for our feature show, The Lead.

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