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Drug regulator okays Covishield, Covaxin for covid
With the DCGI giving approval (EUA) for Covishield and Covaxin, the covid vaccines produced within India, India will be launching the world's largest vaccination drive any time now. Immediate priority goes to the health workers.

NEW DELHI, Jan 3: The Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) has approved the covid vaccines of Oxford University-AstraZeneca and Bharat Biotech for emergency use in the country.

"The vaccines of Serum Institute and Bharat Biotech are being approved for restricted use in emergency situations," the Drugs Controller General of India, VG Somani, said in New Delhi on Sunday.

"The vaccines are 110 % safe. Some side-effects like mild fever, pain and allergy are common for every vaccine," he said.

"The DCGI granting approval to vaccines of @SerumInstIndia and @BharatBiotech accelerates the road to a healthier and COVID-free nation," Prime Minister Narendra Modi tweeted.

"It would make every Indian proud that the two vaccines that have been given emergency use approval are made in India! This shows the eagerness of our scientific community to fulfil the dream of an Aatmanirbhar Bharat, at the root of which is care and compassion", Modi said.

While the vaccine developed by Oxford University-AstraZeneca was put to clinical trials and is being manufactured by the Serum Institute of India, the world's largest manufacturer of vaccines, the Bharat Biotech vaccine was developed indigenously in association with the ICMR. The Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine made in India is called Covishield and the Bharat Biotech vaccine is called Covaxin.

The Subject Expert Committee (SEC) had on Friday recommended marketing authorisation for Covishield and on Saturday it cleared Bharat Biotech's Covaxin, leading to the approval of Emergency Use Authorisation (EUA) for both by the DCGI.

The Serum Institute of India, Pune, which had conducted the clinical trials of Covishield, had submitted data on its safety, immunogenicity and efficacy to the DCGI earlier for the EUA. Covishield is the Indian version of the Oxford-developed vaccine in India.

Thereafter the drug regulator wanted them to submit the outcome of the UK regulator's assessment of the data of trials done there before taking up the review. On Wednesday, the MHRA issued the EUA for the vaccine to be administered in the UK. Soon the SEC made its recommendation to the DCGI and now the EUA has come.

Unlike the Pfizer's which uses the latest mRNA technology manipulating the human genes, Covishield and Covaxin are conventional vaccines that use the attenuated (Covishield) or deactivated (Covaxin) virus. The former uses the common cold virus called adenovirus. Both work by producing the spike protein in the human body so as to prime the immune system to deactivate any virus when it infects the body.

Both the covid vaccines, Covishield and Covaxin, are generally active against new coronavirus mutant strains as seen in the UK also, it is claimed.

EUA has been given to Covaxin although the phase 3 trials are not over. They are undertaking the last clinical trials on 26,000 participants.

An advantage of Covishield and Covaxin over Pfizer's is that both can be transported and administered under normal fridge temperature of 2 to 8 deg C and no super cold storage is required. Therefore, supply and administration become hassle-free and cost-effective.

Covishield has been found 90% effective if first dose is low and 62% if both doses are given full, with one month's gap.

The Indian Central Drug Lab (CDL) has tested the Covishield (AZD1222).

According to the SII management, the vaccine may cost Rs 250 per dose in the Indian market initially. Covaxin of Bharat Biotech will cost Rs 350 per dose. Both need two doses with a gap of a few weeks.

India is planning to vaccinate 30 crore people by July with the vaccines which are ready for use in course of time. With the doses available presently, the Government plans to vaccinate one crore health workers and two crore frontline workers. Priorities for the 27 crore has not been finalised. 75 lakh beneficiaries are already registered on co-WIN app.

India conducted a dry run of the vaccination in all the States and UTs successfully on Saturday. And with the EUA approval, India with a population of 1.3 billion, is ready to launch one of the world's largest vaccination drives. Twenty Ministries and 23 Departments are engaged in the work and 57,000 participants have been trained in 719 districts, apart from training 1,14,000 vaccinators.

India is the second worst affected country by coronavirus after the US with over 10 million cases and 1,50,000 deaths.

Under the at-risk manufacturing and stockpiling licence it got from the DCGI, the SII has already manufactured 40 million doses.

As per the agreement with AstraZeneca, the SII will produce 1 billion doses in India to be supplied to underdeveloped countries.

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The incident has triggered a debate on social media whether the officer refused to take orders from a party leader or he was accused of any corruption, some netizens justifying the handling in either case, that Ratnakar was blocking public welfare work! It is true the Govt machinery has been the enemy Number One of the people of this country, existing for itself and for these politicians, for well over seven decades. India will never make an inch of progress - real progress, not make-believe-progress - unless and until this machinery is eliminated.

The irony lies in her illustration of her experiences in the country she has been living in for the last four years. What it really is!

ANALYSIS: There have been cases of Britons going to Switzerland to get rid of a miserable life. Now once the House of Lords also passes the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill, terminally ill Britons can call it quits with the help of a medical practitioner here itself. But the measure when comes into practice, will have very serious social consequences, it is feared. There won't be comparisons, even as tropes in Latin American folklores. The worst case scenario is of those who are not terminally ill also trying to misuse the provision to leave this world early when life with dignity is not available. But that is, in fact, a political question and not a moral imbroglio!

The CCTV footage and the video circulating on social media do not indicate any serious abnormalities in takeoff or descent, it has been confirmed. The disaster is becoming curiouser and curiouser. The flight path was not curvy. And the aircraft maintained a steady, gliding descent with its nose straight and the wings perfectly level. The pilot's distress call does not specify what prevented lift and climb-out. Here are some expert opinions. The sole purpose is to raise travellers' awareness about air travel.

Many of the victims were charred beyond recognition, making identification difficult. Three hundred nineteen body parts have been sent for DNA matching with relatives to determine the identities.

  • The Udhampur-Srinagar-Baramulla line provides Kashmir with all-weather connectivity and integrates the Valley with the rest of India.
  • The saying 'Kashmir to Kanyakumari' is now a dream come true.
  • The Chenab bridge on the line, an engineering marvel, is the world's highest railway bridge, taller than the Eiffel Tower. (Video: File)

A comment on social media on Kanimozhi's answer on the question of national language read: "Daughter of Kalaignar M. Karunanidhi. Delivered the Birthday Present to her Father!!" (Karunanidhi was born on June 3, 1924) (Today's headlines )

Trump said, "Elon is not really leaving" and will be "back and forth" to the White House because DOGE is his "baby." "I think he’s going to be doing a lot of things.”

Musk wrote: "My scheduled time as a Special Government Employee comes to an end... The @DOGE mission will only strengthen over time as it becomes a way of life throughout the government." Now on it will be on auto-pilot.

PROGNOSIS: DOGE was prematurely born to protect the country by aborting an impending socio-economic disaster which very few people could see coming.

Although its immediate job was to save American taxpayers billions by slashing waste, eliminating fraud, cutting Government bloat and ensuring utmost efficiency in administration for the good of the people. (Today's headlines )

"Coming from a system like in England, empowering," she says she never had an idea of this sort of experience... being asked to “socialise with middle-aged men” who financed the event...humiliating...

Originally from Junagadh, Gujarat, Pataudi was relocated to Etawah Lion Safari in September 2019 before being transferred to Gorakhpur Zoo in 2021. Recently it was receiving treatment for pancreatic and liver infections. After tigress Shakti died in the zoo on May 7 due to bird flu, Pataudi was shifted to Kanpur. Some birds are also reported to have died mysteriously around Gorakhpur. All zoos in UP are closed for fear of a bird flu outbreak.

Three other animals too had died - a tiger, a leopardess and a female wolf. Wolf Bhairavi died last Saturday, leopardess Mona died the Thursday before that and tiger Kesari died on March 30. Some of them had Shakti's symptoms but the cause of death has not been confirmed yet.

As tourist inflow is an indicator of normalcy returning to an erstwhile terrorist infested Valley, the Government has been trying hard to make everything travel-friendly, launching lot many projects and bringing Kashmir on the national rail map that physically completes the process of Kashmir's integration with the rest of India. And that defeats the designs of Pakistan eyeing Kashmir and simply explains a recrudescence of terrorism in J&K.

The committee headed by justice Kurian Joseph will study Centre-State relations and make proposals to ensure foolproof separation of powers.

"It's a big victory not just for Tamil Nadu but for all Indian States. DMK will continue to struggle for and win State autonomy and Federal polity," Chief Minister MK Stalin said.

Of 2.08 km in length, it features 99 spans and a 72.5-metre vertical lift span that rises up to a height of 17 metres, facilitating smooth movement of ships while ensuring seamless train services to the holy town of Rameswaram on Pamban island.

ANALYSIS: There is a lot of hue and cry around the world over Trump's tariffs. But tariff, simply put, is a tax. But unlike tax, it affects the exporting country too. Domestic prices will go up for some time. Nothing more will happen, good or bad!

What motivated Trump's newfound policy, apart from being a stunt to justify his existence in the White House, is a false realisation that increased tariff will make foreign goods prohibitive, thereby boosting local production, and create more jobs, and more prosperity will ring in! If that is true, India would have been shining by now: Producing own Rolls-Royce La Rose Noire Droptail and Scotch Whiskies! And what about coconut and palm oil by America! (Today's headlines )

PROGNOSIS: It looks a Real New Trump is emerging - courageous, balanced, powerful and disinterested. Determined to save his country from the cliff, he has done quite a few draconian things that will reduce the burden of debts of the Federal entity, like the golden handshake, stopping senseless funding, pulling out of a worthless WHO. Shutting the Education Department is another. On the other hand, running it is also not the Centre's job either (We will convincingly elaborate it in the next chapter).

In India the scene is just the opposite. Centralisation is the core agenda and identity of the ruling dispensation without which it has no existence, or in other words, it exists for that set of schemes only. A realisation of this never dawned upon any Opposition party in 2014 or any time thereafter, what to talk of being able to see it coming 70 years ago! The consequence of all this violation of basic natural law of the universe we cannot predict.

THE AMERICAN CONUNDRUM: Political venom has migrated to top echelons in the US. It was reported last year NASA has become politicised, vitiated. But NASA refuted the charge. How Boeing developed a glitch but its unmanned return was smooth. When Suni-Wilmore were stranded last June, why the return was set for February? Because that comes only after January 20! SpaceX called the shots, for itself and for Trump. Then the mission was manipulated for March for a better bargain! In between, what made Elon Musk 'predict' during campaign if Kamala Harris wins he would be in jail. In politics, it is said, "the only rule is there are no rules." Difficult times for Americans too.

The terminations are part of a large-scale exercise going on all across Fed departments and organisations to reduce wasteful Government expenditure as decided by a Trump in a mess gone berserk, and improve administrative efficiency following the whims of billionaire and his associate Elon MusK and his DOGE. It has not been shared how terminations are going to raise the efficiency bar! It looks like Trump has stolen some of the prescriptions meant for India. But the American problems are quite different.

Suddenly these colonial clerks feel this effortless, little rule will tremendously enhance security and convenience for the railway passengers manifold. More stations will be covered in the next 77 years! (Also See: New Delhi station stampede... What went wrong?)

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