The petitioner is Dilip Lunawat, who has contended that his daughter Snehal Lunawat, 33, who was also a Senior Lecturer at the SMBT Dental College & Hospital in Nashik, was compelled to take the vaccine along with all other healthworkers there.
Dilip Lunawat said that his daughter was assured that the vaccines were completely safe and posed no risks/threats to her body, and attached his daughter vaccine certificate (January 28, 2021), and how she died on March 1, 2021, due to the alleged side-effects of the Covishield vaccine.
A few days later, she suffered severe headaches and vomiting and was rushed to a hospital where doctors detected bleeding in her brain and she later succumbed owing to the purported aside-effects of the vaccine', as per Lunawat's plea.
He also cited the views and interviews of experts like the Drug Controller-General of India, Dr. V.G. Somani, and AIIMS Director Dr. Randeep Guleria, making them respondents along with the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, and how the incident figured in the Centre's own Adverse Events Following Immunisation Report of October 2, 2021.
In his petition filed in February 2022, Dilip Lunawat said that in 2020, the SII, Pune entered into a partnership with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to speed up the process of manufacture and delivery of upto 100 million doses of Covishield vaccines in India and for other third world countries.
"The petitioner lost his elder daughter. His loss can neither be explained in words nor can be compensated in terms of money.
Only some sort of succour can be done by awarding compensation," said the plea, seeking Rs 1,000crore as interim compensation to the family.
Dilip Lunawat also sought a declaration that the state authorities are responsible for causing his daughter's death "by false narratives", the authorities should initiate steps to stop further deaths of citizens and publish the side-effects of the vaccines.
The plea urged that the state authorities should be given the liberty to recover the compensation amount from SII, which manufactured the Covishield vaccine.
Adar Poonawalla, Serum Institute of India, Chief Executive Officer, on Friday said that the Covishield vaccine supply in India has crossed 1.25 billion doses so far. The government of India now has enough data for full market authorisation now, he said.
"Supplies of the COVISHIELD vaccine in India, have exceeded 1.25 billion doses. The government of India now has enough data for full market authorisation, and therefore Serum InstIndia has applied to the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation and Union Health Ministry for this permission", said CEO Poonawala in a tweet.
Serum Institute produces AstraZeneca's Covid-19 vaccine under the brand name Covishield. The vaccine is one of India's two main vaccines against Covid pandemic under mass vaccination drive.
The CDSCO has granted emergency use authorisation to the Serum Institute of India's Covid vaccine Covocax recently. The vaccine was granted emergency use approval by the World Health Organisation earlier this month.
Meanwhile, with the administration of 66,65,290 vaccine doses in the last 24 hours, India's Covid inoculation coverage has reached 144.54 crore as of Friday morning. More than 150.66 crore vaccine doses have been provided to states/UTs so far through Government of India and through direct state procurement category.
While the AstraZeneca vaccine produced in Europe, branded Vaxzevira, has been greenlighted by the European Medicines Agency (EMA), the Indian version Covishield has not even requested for the market authorization, according to Stefan De Keersmaecker, the Commission's spokesman for health issues, the Xinhua news agency reported.
In the UK, where AstraZeneca is the prevalent vaccine in use, a share of the population has received the Indian-made jab, manufactured by Serum Institute of India (SII).
In total, five million doses were imported from India, but health authorities said they were not called Covishield and considered the same product as those produced in north Wales and Staffordshire, according to the BBC.
"Of course, the Covishield manufacturer is always free to request the authorization of this vaccine, but for the time being, it is not the case," said Keersmaecker.
An EU-wide Digital Covid Certificate officially entered into force on Thursday, allowing people to travel within the EU-plus area without restrictions if they can either prove to have been fully vaccinated with the EMA-approved vaccines, or have tested negative or recovered from the infection.
Meanwhile, EU member states have the right to accept travelers vaccinated with jabs approved by the World Health Organization (WHO), among which is the Covishield. Media reports said only a small number of the 27 member states have announced the acceptance.
In response to concerns that people from the UK may be denied entry when traveling to the EU, Keersmaecker said the European Commission is working to solve the problem.
"In order to assure a coordinated approach here, the Commission is obviously in contact in discussion with the member states to go through these different vaccines and to see which is the best coordinated approach," said the spokesman.
The move comes amid reports that Covishield is not yet eligible for the digital green certificate, an EU-wide travel pass, set to launch on July 1.
The certificate is currently for EU citizens only. Covishield is the Indian-made version of AstraZeneca's Vaxzevria jab, which has been authorised in the EU.
Covishield is manufactured in India by Serum, the world's largest vaccine maker.
The vaccines currently eligible for the green pass have all been approved by the European Medicines Agency (EMA).
Serum's CEO, Adar Poonawalla, said on Monday that his company hopes to "resolve this matter soon", referring to the fact that Covishield had not yet been authorised in the EU.
The EMA told the BBC on Monday that the Serum Institute had not yet applied for authorisation.
The European Commission has left it to individual member states to decide whether to allow travellers who have received vaccines "that have been authorised at the national level or by the World Health Organization (WHO)".
Covishield was listed for emergency authorisation use in February.
BBC said it's unclear yet if the same rules will also apply to international travellers visiting the EU.
India has so far overwhelmingly administered Covishield jabs - they account for more than 284 million of the 323 or so million vaccinations given so far.
Covaxin, an Indian homegrown vaccine, which has not yet received WHO approval, has also not applied for EMA authorisation. Sputnik V, which is the third vaccine approved for use in India and by the WHO, is on the EMA's list of vaccines currently under review. But it has not been rolled out yet in India due to supply delays.
At a recent meeting of G7 countries to which India was invited, India's health minister Dr Harsh Vardhan said that India was "strongly opposed to a 'vaccine passport' at this juncture".
"I realise that a lot of Indians who have taken COVISHIELD are facing issues with travel to the E.U., I assure everyone, I have taken this up at the highest levels and hope to resolve this matter soon, both with regulators and at
Taking a strong exception, the State BJP then had hit back deploring the BJD leader's statement on the indigenously manufactured Covaxin. The party spokesperson had then even demanded expulsion of Patnaik from BJD.
Days later, the Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) has launched a special vaccination drive for foreign bound students. Hundreds of them were given Covishield at designated centres.
The sparks of political jab flew over the fact that when Covishield has been granted EUA (Emergency Use Athorisation) by WHO, the same has not been granted to Covaxin. The process of granting EUA to Covaxin has been under process, a WHO note said.
However, come July 1, people vaccinated with 2-doses of Covishield cannot visit any of the European Union countries. Because, the European Union's green pass to the vaccinated individuals has not included Covishield vaccines despite being manufactured in technological collaboration with AstraZeneca and Oxford University.
But the political reactions in Odisha are not forthcoming and muted this time.
"European Union is set to make available its COVID-19 passport (Digital COVID Vaccine Certificate) for all EU citizens and residents, as well as for specific categories of travellers from third countries, by July 1.The EU will facilitate safe free movement of citizens in the EU during the COVID-19 pandemic," said a statement.
What Is an EU COVID-19 Vaccine Passport?
The EU COVID Vaccination Passport will be issued to all those who have been fully vaccinated against the Coronavirus.
The Twist In The Tale
Significantly, the twist here is the EU has made it crystal clear that one will be issued a vaccine passport, provided h/she had the shots of the four vaccines approved by only the European Medicine Agency (EMA), which are:
• Comirnaty (BioNTech, Pfizer)
• Moderna
• Vaxzevria (previously COVID-19 Vaccine AstraZeneca, Oxford)
• Janssen (Johnson & Johnson) (see the image below).
The fact of concern is despite the Covishield having granted EUA by WHO, the EMA has not approved the vaccine yet. As a consequence, none from India can travel to any EU countries for the simple reason that none of the vaccines approved by EMA are available in India.
Will It Impact Travel To US?
Though US government has gone on record to say that there is no plan to implement national vaccination passport in USA. As per US embassy notification, the United States does not require a COVID-19 vaccination certificate for entry into the United States. Therefore, vaccinated with Indian vaccines or even not vaccinated has not been a bar to travel US.
Though there is no blanket bar in travelling to US, however, the Biden administration has left it to the jurisdiction of respective states.
For instance, New York State has issued Excelsior Passes to residents who have been vaccinated or tested negative for Covid so they can gain admittance to certain venues and events. And the passes will be issued to those who have taken the shots approved by US-FDA (Food and Drug Administration).
So, in New York State, the excelsior passes required to go to certain venues and event will not be granted to travellers (or students) from India. The approved vaccine list of FDA doesn't include any Indian-made vaccine. Unlike EU, the impact on travelers from India will be bery limited.
The vaccines approved by FDA are:
• Pfizer-BioNTech Vaccine
• Moderna Covid-19 vaccine
• Janssen Covid-19 vaccine
The Solution
As EMA and FDA have their own set of stringent regulations to give approval to a vaccine for EUA, Indian manufacturers have to apply so separtely. Though the normal approval time-period is 250 days,since the vaccines are against the pandemic like Covid-19, the granting of EUA to other vaccines manufacturers will take only 150 days (5-months).
FDA has recently didn't grant EUA to Covaxin, and sought additional data. Bharat Biotech statement post rejection mentioned that the company will go for full approval, not EUA, in US soon.
Odisha Health Department Additional Chief Secretary Pradeepta Mohapatra informed during a press meet that private hospitals will carry out State govt’s free vaccination programme with an administration fee of Rs 100/per dose.
In another major development, the State government has made it clear that vaccination drive will be carried out in urban areas first due to the concentration of more virus infections in the cities and towns.
ACS PK Mohapatra said that people who had received first dose of Covid vaccines by paying the requisite fees at private hospitals by April 30 can take their second jabs at government vaccination centres free of cost.
It may be mentioned State governments including Odisha are now not releasing vaccines to private hospitals for administration to people but rather the private organizations have been permitted to directly procure the vaccines from suppliers.
Mohapatra informed that so far a total of 97% healthcare workers have been administered first dose of Covid vaccines while around 87 % of the total have received second dose of vaccine.
In total, 97% of frontline Corona warriors have already received first phase jabs while 85% have been fully vaccinated by now, he said.
Out of the 1.16 crore people of 45 years and above, 43.55 lakh people have been administered first dose of vaccine out of which 23.43 lakh beneficiaries have received second doses.
Covaxin is being used only in the jurisdiction of Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation and there is no problem in administering its second doses but the problem lies with Covishied since it is being administered in all the 30 districts barring BMC and there is an inadequate supply of the vaccines by the Centre.
The ACS informed that Odisha government has requested the Centre to release 15 lakh vaccines as soon as possible. We had received lakh doses on Tuesday but by May 15 we may get 6 to 7 lakh vaccine doses.
Newly registered people will not be administered the vaccines now. They should only register their names and we will a allot slots accordingly. But right now, the second dose expectants will be given priority for vaccinations, Mohapatra said.
“So far, 55,50,380 doses of Covid-19 vaccines have been administered. Western Odisha is being given the vaccines on priority basis considering the unprecedented spike in that part of the State. Only after taking two jabs of the vaccine, one can be protected from infection,” said Health and Family Welfare Director Bijay Panigrahy.
“Currently, only citizens above the age of 45 are allowed to take the vaccine. All citizens aged above 18 will be eligible for vaccination which will start from May 1. The department will prepare an elaborate plan of action for the mass vaccination programme following deliberation today,” said Panigrahy.
According to official sources, Odisha currently has a stock of 3.7 lakh shots of Covaxin and one lakh shots of Covishield vaccines.
Earlier yesterday, the Odisha government decided to stop providing Covid-19 vaccines to private hospitals from May 1 as the State is scheduled to launch vaccination for all above 18 years as per the Central government’s guidelines.
Meanwhile, the State government has targeted to ramp up testing to 50,000 samples on daily basis. Currently, 43,000 to 45,000 samples are being tested daily.
As many as 11,000 beds are available in hospitals in the State out of which 2700 have been occupied by Covid-19 patients. As private hospitals have been asked to reserve 50% beds for Covid-19 patients, a technical team has been formed to keep a close watch on it. Both government and private hospitals have been asked to arrange separate fever wards to prevent cross infections.
Adar Poonawalla, Founder and CEO, SII said on Saturday that SII is in the process of submitting the data for the clinical trials to the DCGI and will seek emergency use authorisation.
As of now, we don't have anything in writing with the govt of India on how many doses they will purchase but the indication is that it would be 300-400 million doses by July 2021: Serum Institute CEO Adar Poonawalla#Covid19
— OTV (@otvnews) November 28, 2020
Vaccine will be distributed initially in India, then we will look at the COVAX countries which are mainly in Africa. The UK & European markets are being taken care of by AstraZeneca & Oxford, says Adar Poonawalla, CEO, Serum Institute#Covid19
— OTV (@otvnews) November 28, 2020
He said there will be no delays in the AstraZeneca vaccine rollout as the trials are more than enough for establishing efficacy and it will not affect emergency use authorization in Europe and certainly not in India. There was a recent error in dosage during trials which AstraZeneca is trying to correct, as per reports.
"What we might have to do is trials for under 18 candidates. That is way all vaccines go. You first have to establish safety for adults and then go for studies on the impact on children," he added.
Speaking after Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to the SII facility in Pune, Poonawalla said PM Modi discussed in detail the vaccination scenario and reviewed the vaccine production status.
"Had a good interaction with the team at Serum Institute of India. They shared details about their progress so far on how they plan to further ramp up vaccine manufacturing. Also took a look at their manufacturing facility," PM Modi said in a tweet.
He said 50-60 per cent of the world's vaccines are made in India and with Atmanirbhar Bharat in mind, SII today showcased the largest pandemic facility at their facility in in Pune.
He added that the implementation plan for the AstraZeneca and Oxford vaccine, Covishield will be clear only after emergency use authorisation is received. SII is in the process of submitting to DCGI. There are plans to roll out hundreds of millions of doses in the second quarter but only after all regulatory approvals are received.
He said so many different vaccines were discussed with PM Modi and their logistical and pricing issues. As of now, there is nothing in writing from the Indian government but Health Ministry has announced a target of 300-400 million doses by July 2021, which SII is scaling up for, he added.
SII is in the process of applying of emergency use licence in two weeks. It will be distributed in India initially and then the Covax countries of Africa.
On the other vaccine, Novavax, where SII has a tie up, Poonawalla said it is two months behind Astrazeneca and the same process will be followed in terms of trials and approvals.
The third one, Codagenics is way behind and will take at least a year to get into licence stage. It is only starting stage 1 trials in UK in December so that will take a year, Poonawalla said.
He said both these vaccines can be stored at temperatures of 2-8 celsius for which India has a lot of capacity. He said that for vaccines which much lower temperatures India's capacity for storage is negligible.
SII is currently producing 50-60 million doses a month which by January-February will be scaled up to 100 million doses a month.
Issues about how to distribute and where to distribute the vaccine will become clear after the vaccine gets emergency use authorisation which will take a few weeks to happen, Poonawalla added.
He added that a delayed approval in UK does not have much impact as stock piling and manufacturing is going on and a delay of a couple of weeks will not make much impact.
The Government of India is looking at getting 300-400 million doses of coronavirus vaccine by July, which is being developed by an international health consortium that includes Punes Serum Institute of India (SII), a top official said.
The AstraZeneca vaccine has shown zero hospitalization and reduced the virus by 60 per cent. So those who got infected were not passing it on and there was no severe attack of coronavirus requiring hospitalisation.
(With IANS Inputs)
"As promised, before the end of 2020, @SerumInstIndia has applied for emergency use authorisation for the first made-in-India vaccine, COVISHIELD. This will save countless lives, and I thank the Government of India and Sri @narendramodiji for their invaluable support," Adar Poonawalla, CEO, SII said in a tweet.
As promised, before the end of 2020, @SerumInstIndia has applied for emergency use authorisation for the first made-in-India vaccine, COVISHIELD. This will save countless lives, and I thank the Government of India and Sri @narendramodi ji for their invaluable support.
— Adar Poonawalla (@adarpoonawalla) December 7, 2020
Covishield is a vaccine developed by AstraZeneca and Oxford and will be manufactured by SII. Earlier, Pfizer had become the first company to apply for EUA in India and sought permission to import the vaccines here. The UK and US are readying for vaccination programmes with the Pfizer vaccine.
In November end, Serum Institute of India (SII) had announced it will seek emergency use authorization for the AstraZeneca Covid 19 vaccine in about two weeks.
Poonawalla had said SII is in the process of submitting the data for the clinical trials to the DCGI and will seek emergency use authorization.
He said there will be no delays in the AstraZeneca vaccine rollout as the trials are more than enough for establishing efficacy and it will not affect emergency use authorization in Europe and certainly not in India. There was a recent error in dosage during trials which AstraZeneca is trying to correct, as per reports.
"What we might have to do is trials for under 18 candidates. That is way all vaccines go. You first have to establish safety for adults and then go for studies on the impact on children," he added.
On the other vaccine, Novavax, where SII has a tie up, Poonawalla said it is two months behind Astrazeneca and the same process will be followed in terms of trials and approvals.
The third one, Codagenics is way behind and will take at least a year to get into licence stage. It is only starting stage 1 trials in the UK in December so that will take a year, Poonawalla said.
He said both these vaccines can be stored at temperatures of 2 to 8 degrees Celsius for which India has a lot of capacity. He said that for vaccines which much lower temperatures India's capacity for storage is negligible.
SII is currently producing 50-60 million (five to six crore) doses a month which by January-February will be scaled up to 100 million (10 crore) doses a month.
(With IANS Inputs)
Even though Odisha had conducted the dry run for Covid-19 vaccines in all districts on January 2, the question still remains if the State is actually ready to take up this gigantic task of vaccination.
While manpower will not be a bump for the State, given the hands-on experience it has from UIP (Universal Immunisation Programme), still the State will face a big test when the critical task of administering vaccine to a population of over 3.2 lakh is put into action.
The test is whether Odisha has the capacity at the level of ‘cold chain points’ to store the massive vaccine dispatches.
The Big Challenge
As vaccines are susceptible to temperature variations, storing of vaccines appropriately will not only preserve its efficacy but also minimises the wastage as the Centre has already coined the slogan of ‘One needle, One Syringe, One Vaccine’.
"Since the Covid-19 vaccines are to be stored at a temperature of 2 - 8 degrees Celsius, those will be kept in ILRs (Ice Lined Refrigerators). We have 1,222 Cold Chain Points (CCP) in our State, which are more than sufficient to carry out the Corona virus vaccination drive. However, the capacity of ILRs (Ice Lined refrigerators) in the CCPs need to be augmented. And the State health department has already initiated procurement of more ILRs for storing Covid-19 vaccines," informed Niranjan Mishra, Director, Public Health.
Space Matters
As per the data available with the National Health Mission (NHM), Odisha has currently over 1,796 ILRs for storing the vaccines under the Universal Immunisation Programme (UIP). The capacity of the ILRs in State stood at approximately 2.03 lakh litres, informed highly placed sources.
Sources further added that the Covid-19 vaccination is a different ball game as the target group is larger.
In the first phase of Covid-19 vaccination the shot will be given to all health workers across the State. An estimate shows that Odisha would need over 7 lakh doses for the Phase -I vaccination.
How many Extras Needed?
“Though no details have been played out as yet, we assume the packed vaccine volume per dose will be around 5ml. Accordingly, the storage volume of ILRs needed to store the over 7 lakh doses is estimated at around 3,500 litres. The State government has already requested the Centre to provide assistance for around 1000 ILRs,” explained a very senior health official while requesting anonymity. He informed that the procurement process has been initiated and “We don’t see any glitch whatsoever in storing the Covid-19 vaccines.”
Cold Chain White Paper
A reality check of cold chain equipment in Odisha reveals the following:
“Odisha has asked the Centre to provide over a dozen of walk-in freezers for safe transportation of the vaccines. We also need nearly 500 deep freezers. However, augmenting will not prove a hurdle in Covid-19 vaccination drive,” opined the senior official.
Key Players’ Info
ILR: Is known as ice lined refrigerators. This equipment is used to store vaccines at the PHC (Primary Health Care) level. It maintains a temperature of 2-8 deg C. The equipment can maintain the temperature range for 24-hours with only 8 hours of power supply. It can store 63 -160 vaccine packs.
Deep Freezers: This equipment has the capacity to maintain a temperature range of (-)18 to (-)28 deg C. It has been designed in such a way that the equipment can maintain the temperature range even in the event of power failure.
According to the order, each dose of the vaccine has been priced at Rs 200 and with GST of Rs 10 it would cost Rs 210.
The HLL Lifecare Limited, a public sector undertaking, issued the supply order on behalf of the Union Health Ministry in the name of Prakash Kumar Singh, Additional Director, Government and Regulatory Affairs at Serum Institute of India (SII).
The Covishield vaccine doses would be initially shipped to 60 consignment points from where those would be distributed further, the sources said.
The health ministry is also likely to soon sign a purchase order for another anti-coronavirus vaccine, Covaxin, which has been indigenously developed by Bharat Biotech. Meetings for this was underway, a source said.
India had recently granted emergency use authorisation to two vaccines, Oxford's Covishield being manufactured by Serum Institute in India and Bharat Biotech's Covaxin. Both vaccines, according to a statement from the Health Ministry, have established safety and immunogenicity.
The country India launch its COVID-19 vaccination drive from January 16 in what Prime Minister Narendra Modi has called the world's largest inoculation programme with priority to be given to nearly three crore healthcare and frontline workers.
After vaccinating healthcare and frontline workers, priority will be given to those above 50 years of age and the under-50 population groups with co-morbidities, together numbering around 27 crore.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday emphasised that India is entering into a decisive battle against Covid-19, as the country prepares for the Made in India vaccination drive from January 16.
Making the closing remarks at the meeting with the Chief Ministers on Covid vaccine roll-out, the Prime Minister said that the public representatives are not in the priority list and the first round of vaccines will be given to the frontline workers. He also said that the state governments will not have to pay for the first round of Covid vaccines as the Centre will bear the cost.
"We have to continue creating public awarreness, but the maximum awarreness is required after the second and third round when we complete three crore vaccinations," Modisaid.
"Public representatives are not in the priority list. Only the frontline and healthcare workers are on the list. The fight against coronavirus is an example of India's federalism," the Prime MInister said.
"India is entering into a decisive battle against Covid-19 and we should not let our guard down now. We are going to start the vaccination drive from January 16. It is a matter of pride for us that the two approved vaccines for Covid-19 are both Made in India," Modi said.
The Prime MInister said that both the Indian vaccines are more cost effective than any other vaccine in the world.
"Apart from the two already approved vaccines, four others are in the pipeline. It will help us plan for the future in a better way. Our experts have taken all precautions to provide the countrymen with effective vaccines," Modi said.
The Prime MInister said that these vaccines are made keeping in mind the situation of the country. "In the second phase, people above 50 years of age will be vaccinated," Modi said.
Speaking at the interaction with CMs on vaccination rollout. https://t.co/gbWZ4LsQGB
— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) January 11, 2021
(With Agency Inputs)
The State has received 4.08 lakh doses of Covishield vaccine and 20000 doses of Covaxin vaccine in the first lot. The wastage factor of both the vaccines is 1.11 (10 per cent). While 50% of the vaccines received would be supplied to districts for first dose vaccination, the remaining 50% vaccines will be supplied in time for second dose vaccination.
A notice of the department sent to all Collectors and Municipal Corporation Commissioners mentions that the vaccination programme would be launched from the 16th of January in 160 session sites, and thereafter, the session sites can be increased or changed so as to utilize the entire available vaccines within one week of January 16.
Two types of vaccines - Covishield vaccine and Covaxin vaccine - with a shelf life of six months will be supplied to the State. Each Covishield vaccine vial contains 10 doses while each Covaxin vaccine vial contains 20 doses.
The date of manufacture of vaccine has been mentioned on the vials, but there will be no mention of expiry date and no vaccine vial monitor. There is no Open Vial Policy for either vaccine and the vaccine should be utilized within four hours of opening the vial.
The authorities have been asked to ensure that there is Zero Wastage of the vaccine and once opened, all doses in a vial should be fully utilized. Further, the principle of 'First Expiry First Our' (FEFO) shall be followed during vaccine distribution and use at District Vaccine Stores and Cold Chain Points.
All the beneficiaries should complete vaccination using the same vaccine product, which means there is no option for inter-changeability of vaccines. Based on the present supply by MoHFW in the first lot, the Covishield vaccine will be supplied to all 30 districts and Covaxin vaccine would be supplied to Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation area. The amount of vaccine distributed to a district will be in proportion to the number of healthcare workers registered in the district.
Prioritization Of Health Institutions & Beneficiaries
In another development, the Collectors have been asked to include Panchayat Samiti members in the district database of Covid frontline workers for the vaccination programme. OSDMA has sought details of the PS members who have worked during the Covid-19 management as frontline workers.
The government has also prepared a chart mentioning the district-wise allotment of vaccines. So far, 3,38,777 workers healthcare workers have been enrolled in Odisha for vaccination in Phase-1.
India last week announced that it will send COVID-19 vaccines under grant assistance to Sri Lanka and seven other countries -- Bhutan, the Maldives, Bangladesh, Nepal, Myanmar and Seychelles, Afghanistan and Mauritius.
Nepal, Bangladesh, Bhutan and the Maldives have already received India's COVID-19 vaccines under grant assistance in sync with its Neighbourhood First policy.
President Rajapaksa was at the Colombo international airport to receive the consignment of free Indian COVID-19 vaccines which arrived on a special Air India flight.
"Received 500,000 #COVID?19 vaccines provided by #peopleofindia ...Thank you! PM Shri @narendramodi & #peopleofindia for the generosity shown towards #PeopleofSriLanka at this time in need," Rajapaksa tweeted.
Received 500,000 #COVIDー19 vaccines provided by #peopleofindia at #BIA today(28).
Thank you! PM Shri @narendramodi & #peopleofindia for the generosity shown towards #PeopleofSriLanka at this time in need. pic.twitter.com/yniKBWNeWC— Gotabaya Rajapaksa (@GotabayaR) January 28, 2021
The consignment was packed in 42 boxes.
Rajapaksa was joined at the airport by the Indian envoy in Colombo Gopal Baglay.
"The arrival of 500,000 doses of COVISHIELD vaccines happens on blessed Poya Day, which marks the 1st visit of The Buddha to Lanka. High Commissioner offered prayers at the sacred Gangaramaya Temple for the health and well being of the people of Lanka on auspicious Duruthu Poya Day," the Indian High Commission here tweeted.
The consignment came after the country approved emergency use of Oxford AstraZeneca's Covishield vaccine.
The vaccination programme is to be launched in the country on Friday at six hospitals around the capital Colombo, health officials said.
A total of 250,000 people, mostly health frontline workers, members of the security forces and police and the vulnerable aged, will get the vaccine on a priority basis.
The government said the State Pharmaceuticals Corporation would be this week ordering 3 million doses of the Oxford Astrazeneca vaccine from India's Serum Institute.
Sri Lanka has recorded more than 60,000 coronavirus cases so far with 288 deaths.
India is one of the world's biggest drug-makers and an increasing number of countries have already approached it for procuring the coronavirus vaccines.
The gift from India is in line with India's continued support to Sri Lanka in fighting the COVID pandemic. Four consignments of medical supplies weighing around 25 tonnes were donated by India, which also organised online experience-sharing programmes for Sri Lankan medical professionals.
The two nations have also put up a joint front in the COVID-19 battle with India and Sri Lanka being the largest contributors to the COVID-19 Emergency Fund for SAARC. Prime Minister Modi had complimented Sri Lanka's leadership on containing the pandemic.
(PTI)
The decision follows a recommendation from the National Technical Advisory Group on Immunization (NTAGI) and National Expert Group on Vaccine Administration for Covid-19 (NEGVAC), which had advised the change in the schedule based on emerging scientific evidence.
The State Health and Family Welfare Department on Wednesday issued an advisory to all Collectors, District Magistrates, Municipal Commissioners, Chief District Medical Officers and Primary Health Centers in this regard.
“Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW), Government of India has advised to ensure the second dose of Covishield vaccination to beneficiaries within stipulated time interval of four to eight weeks after the first dose. MoHFW has also communicated that protection should be enhanced if the second dose of the vaccine is administered between six to eight weeks, but not later than the stipulated period of eight weeks,” said the advisory issued by Pradipta Kumar Mohapatra, Additional Chief Secretary.
Following this change, the CoWIN portal also would not automatically schedule appointments for the second dose beneficiaries. They will be informed about the interval and they can decide the date of the second visit within the stipulated time frame.
This revised time interval between two doses is applicable only to Covishield and the change is not applicable for Covaxin vaccine, the advisory stated.