The vaccine is the third to be approved by Health Canada following the December approval of vaccines developed by Pfizer Inc with BioNTech SE and Moderna Inc.

“With Pfizer, Moderna, and now AstraZeneca, Canada will get more than 6.5 million doses before the end of March,” Prime Minister Justin Trudeau told reporters. “And there will be tens of millions more doses to come between April and June.”

Canada has ordered 20 million doses of the vaccine from AstraZeneca, and is due to receive 1.9 million through COVAX – the international initiative set up to provide equitable access to vaccines – in the first half of the year.

On Friday, Canada said it had secured an additional 2 million doses through its agreement with Verity Pharmaceuticals Canada Inc and the Serum Institute of India.

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The new mid-stage trial will determine whether the vaccine is effective on people between the ages of 6 and 17, according to a statement from the university.

Around 300 volunteers will be enrolled and first inoculations are expected this month, Oxford said.

The two-dose Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine has been hailed as a ‘vaccine for the world’ because it is cheaper and easier to distribute than some rivals.

AstraZeneca has a target to produce 3 billion doses this year and aims to produce over 200 million doses per month by April.

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AstraZeneca’s Covid-19 vaccine is safe and effective and should be deployed widely, including in countries where the South African variant of the coronavirus may reduce its efficacy, a World Health Organization panel said on Wednesday.

The benefits of the Covid-19 vaccine developed by AstraZeneca and Oxford University outweigh any risks and the shot should recommend for use, including in people aged 65 and older, the WHO panel said.

Earlier South Africa stopped part of its roll out of the AstraZeneca vaccine after data small trial showed it did not protect against mild to moderate illness from the 501Y.V2 variant of the coronvirus now dominant in the country.

The WHO said it expected by mid-February to finalise its review of the shot for emergency use approval under COVAX agreement.

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Bloomberg reported that Norway doctors have started investigating the deaths of 23 people who died shortly after receiving the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine against coronavirus. Doctors said that people aged over 80 years, who have a weak body, are showing adverse reactions to the vaccine.

More than 25,000 people have been vaccinated in the Scandinavian country since the drive began on December 27, 2020.

A direct connection between the Pfizer vaccine and these deaths is yet to be established, but experts observed that 13 of the 23 people who have died have shown common symptoms of mRNA vaccines such as diarrhea, nausea and fever.

The Norwegian Institute of Public Health has cautioned against vaccinating elderly people above 80years of age saying those with a short life span may not benefit much from the jab.

Pfizer and BioNTech are working with the Norwegian authorities to investigate the deaths in Norway. According to Pfizer, the regulator discovered “the number of incidents so far is not alarming and in line with expectations”.

Experts cautioned that doctors need to be more careful in vaccinating people in the wake of the deaths of 23 elderly people.

Apart from Pfizer-BioNTech’s vaccine, the vaccine candidate by Moderna also uses mRNA platform. These are “coated molecules of mRNA, similar to DNA (Deoxyribonucleic acid), that carry the instructions for making a viral protein.

Meanwhile, many news reports said that Pfizer has now gone to temporarily reduce its vaccine supply in Europe following the concerns raised with the deaths in Norway.

The reduction in deliveries is due to Pfizer limiting output so that it can upgrade production capacity to 2 billion vaccine doses per year from 1.3 billion currently, the Norwegian Institute of Public Health (FHI) said.

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Prime Minister Narendra Modi will launch the pan-India inoculation of Covid-19 vaccine on Saturday at 10.30 am through video conferencing.

The coronavirus vaccination drive, one of the world’s largest vaccination programme, begins weeks after the DCGI approved Oxford coronvirus vaccine ‘Covishield’ manufactured by Pune-based Serum Institute, and indigenously developed ‘Covaxin’ of Bharat Biotech for restricted emergency use in the country.

In India, priority groups who are more exposed to the Covid-19 infection and are likely in the high-risk zone would be vaccinated first. Healthcare workers, both in the government and private sectors, including Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) workers, will receive the vaccine during this phase. Adequate doses of both Covishield and Covaxin have already been delivered to all states/UTs with the active support of the Ministry of Civil Aviation.

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Dr V K Paul, a member(Health), NITI Aayog, said on Tuesday that Covishield of Serum Institute of India, and Covaxin are the two COVID-19 vaccines that have received Emergency Use Authorisation (EAU). He said that these vaccines are the safest vaccines and have been tested on thousands of people and side-effects are negligible.

The Union Health Ministry has said apart from Covishield and Covaxin, there are four more vaccines in the pipeline. Their manufacturers may soon apply for emergency use authorisation in India.

Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan said Zydus Cadilla, Sputnik V, Biological E and Gennova are the COVID-19 vaccines that are in the pipeline and are currently in advanced clinical trials in Indian

About half a crore doses of Serum Institute of India (SII’s) Covishield vaccine were shipped out of Pune to cities across India on January 12, as the country launched its final phase of preparations for the mass inoculation drive against the novel coronavirus.

What one dose of Covid vaccines will cost in India?

Covishield: Rs 200 per dose (for first 100 million doses), Rs 1,000 per dose thereafter at private outlets
Covaxin: Rs 206 per dose
Pfizer-BioNTech: Rs 1,431 per dose
Moderna: Rs 2,348 to Rs 2,715 per dose
Sinopharm: less than Rs 5,650 per dose
Sinovac Biotech: Rs 1,027 per dose
Novavax: Rs 1,114 per dose
Gamaleya Centre: less than Rs 734 per dose
Johnson and Johnson: Rs 734 per dose

Meanwhile, India reported 15,968 new Covid-19 cases, 17,817 discharges and 202 deaths in last 24 hours, as per Union Health Ministry data. The total cases now stand at 1,04,95,147, active cases are 2,14,507 and overall recoveries is at 1,01,29,111. The total death toll is 1,51,529.

According to the Indian Council of Medical Research, a total of 18,34,89,114 samples tested for Covid-19 till 12th January, of which 8,36,227 samples were tested on January 12.

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“He said he will be vaccinated, he made this decision and was waiting until all formalities are completed,” the spokesman was quoted as saying to Rossiya 1 TV Channel on its website.

Russia launched a voluntary vaccination programme with the Russia-made Sputnik V vaccine earlier in December, starting with the most vulnerable groups in Moscow.

People over the age of 60 may begin to apply for shots on Monday, Moscow mayor Sergei Sobyanin said on his website on Sunday, the day after the Russian health ministry said the vaccine was approved for use by elderly people after a separate trial.

68-year-old Putin said earlier that the Russian vaccine was effective and safe and he saw no reason not to be vaccinated adding that he was waiting until it became available.

Since the start of the coronavirus outbreak in Russia, Putin has mainly worked remotely, held meetings via videolink and limited travel.

He said in August that one of his daughters had taken part in the clinical trial of the vaccine and felt well afterwards.

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The move, announced on Wednesday, came after Russia said on October that its domestically produced Sputnik V vaccine was 92 percent effective at preventing coronavirus.

Teachers and medics will be the first to receive shots. President Putin said that the country will produce two million doses of the vaccine within the next few days.

“Let’s agree on this – you will not report to me next week, but you will start mass vaccination … let’s get to work already,” he told Deputy Prime Minister Tatyana Golikova.

The Kremlin earlier gave assurances that Russians were first in line to be vaccinated, with Moscow also discussing supply deals with other countries.

With 2,347,401 confirmed infections as of Wednesday, Russia has the fourth-largest number of COVID-19 cases in the world behind the United States, India and Brazil.

It has recorded 41,053 deaths related to COVID-19 since the start of the pandemic.

On December 2 authorities recorded 589 new daily deaths tied to the virus and 25,345 new infections.

The country’s overall rise in cases has slowed after witnessing a high on November 27. Instead of imposing mass lockdown during the second wave of infections, the officials opted for targeted regional curbs.

Museums, theatres and concert halls would be closed to the public in St Petersburg of over 5million people for the duration of Russia’s New Year holidays from December 30 to January 10.

Putin statement comes hours after the United Kingdom approved the Pfizer-BioNTech coronavirus vaccine for use that will be rolled out from early next week.

Sputnik V- named after the Soviet-era satellite is in third and final stage of clinical trials involving around 40,000 volunteers.

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A Food and Drug Administration advisory committee is set to meet on December 10 to discuss Pfizer Inc.’s request for an emergency use authorisation for its developing Covid-19 vaccine.

US drug maker Pfizer Inc, has claimed that they developed a 95% effective vaccine against coronavirus. They are now seeking the emergency use tag from US government for its dosage. Pfizer has said the emergency use tag could start the process early and the coronavirus vaccine doses could be available as early as next month.

Dr. Moncef Slaoui, head of Operation Warp Speed, the coronvirus vaccine program said that their plan is able to ship vaccines to the immunisation sites within 24 hours from the approval.

Meanwhile leaders of the 20 biggest economies vowed to spare no effort to supply Covid-19drugs, tests and vaccines affordably and fairly to ‘all people”, reflecting worries that the pandemic could deepen divisions between the world’s rich and poor.

Meanwhile Niti Ayog member and National Expert Group on Vaccine Administration for COVID-19, Vinod Paul said that Pune-based Serum Institute (SII) may be granted emergency use authorisation of the Oxford AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine if AstraZeneca get approval from the UK government. He also said that if the clinical trials of the coronavirus vaccine in India go as per the script, phase III trials should be over by January-February 2021.

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Khaleej Times reported the veteran nurse’s special call that helped her meet the Ruler of Dubai.

“I always wanted to meet Sheikh Mohammed. And God fulfilled my wish. It was a blessed moment. I can’t express my feelings. I am very lucky,” she told the Gulf daily.

Sossamma was part of the four-member medical team, which went to Sheikh Mohammed’s Majlis after being tested Covid-19 negative. She said Sheikh Mohammed asked them about their well-being and praised the exceptional work done by the frontline health workers.

Sossamma works as a staff nurse at the Preventive Medicine department under the Ministry of Health and Prevention.

This was not the time she was administering jabs to distinguished personalities in the UAE. In September, Sossamma administered the vaccine to AbdulRahman bin Mohammed Al Owais, Minister of Health and Prevention.

She gets picked for the job because the injections she gives does not cause pain. So she was always selected to administer flu and vaccine jabs to ministers, heads of federal departments, undersecretaries and VIPs.

Sossamma , who has been in Dubai since 1992, resides here with husband Vaidyanparambil Abraham Kuriakose and son Jubin who work in Dubai. She hails from Meenadom village of Kottayam district.

Her family as well as Meenadom neighbours are happy about the rare opportunity she has got.

Sossamma is now looking forward to administering the second dose to Sheikh Mohammed.

She has two wishes now – to administer a vaccine to Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai, and to give a vaccine dose to a VIP at the Burj Khalifa, the world’s tallest building she has not had the opportunity to enter.

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The total coronavirus cases mounted to 83,64,086 and the deaths have climbed to 1,24,315 with the virus claiming 704 lives in the last 24 hours in the country.

The COVID-19 case fatality rate was recorded at 1.49 percent. So far, there are 5,27,962 active cases of COVID-19 which comprises 6.31 percent of the total caseload.

According to the ICMR, a cumulative total of 11,42,08,384 samples have been tested up to November 4, with 12,09,425 samples being tested on November 5.

Adar Poonawalla, chief executive officer (CEO) of Pune-based pharmaceutical company Serum Institute of India (SII) said that the covid vaccine is likely to be available in the country by January 2021 provided approvals from regulatory bodies are in place and only if its proven immunogenic and efficacious.

The SII is working in collaboration with British- Sweden pharma major AstraZeneca to produce the potential covid-19 vaccine Covishield.

The CEO of the world’s largest drug manufacturing firm also said that the firm is in talks with the government over the pricing of the vaccine and assured that it will be available at a reasonable price.

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“When @JoeBiden and I are in the White House we’ll listen to scientists, promote masks to save lives, implement nationwide testing and tracing, and ensure vaccines are free to all,” she tweeted.

The bitter and divisive race for White House between Republican incumbent President Donald Trump and his Democratic challenger Joe Biden comes in the midst of coronavirus pandemic which has infected over 92 lakh people and claimed the lives of more than 2,30,000 others in the country, making it the worst hit nation from the deadly virus.

While the formal election is today, nearly 93 million people have already cast their ballots in early voting, including 33 million in-person votes and 58 million mail-in ballots. To be elected as president , a candidate should win at least 270 votes in what is called the Electoral College.

The 2020 US Presidential election is much different than previous elections as people cast their ballots amid rising anxiety and worry about the country’s future due to the pandemic and eight percent unemployment.

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India’s active coronavirus cases stood at 5,61,908 on Monday after a decrease of 8,550 in the past 24 hours. Of the 82,29,313 coronavirus cases in India, 75,44,798 have recovered with 53,285 new discharges on November 1.

According to the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), a total of 8,55,800 samples to detect coronavirus were tested on Sunday. Of these, 45,230 returned as positive for the infection. So far, India has tested 11,07,43,103 samples.

According to a new global analysis of advance market commitments (AMCs) for experimental vaccines till October 8, India has used its manufacturing capability to pre-order 600 million doses of the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) vaccine and is negotiating for another billion doses, enough to vaccinate at least half the population.

The figures are second only to the US, which has pre-ordered 810 million confirmed doses and has another 1.6 billion under negotiation.

It will likely take three to four years to manufacture enough vaccines to cover the world’s population, but high-income countries and a few middle-income countries with manufacturing capacity such as India, have already purchased nearly 3.8 billion doses, with options for another five billion, showed an analysis of purchasing agreements for Covid-19 vaccines by the US-based Duke Global Health Innovation Center.

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The pharma company’s immediate focus is to conduct the Phase 3 trials successfully across sites in the country.

The company’s vaccine candidate, Covaxin, has been developed in collaboration with the Indian Council of Medical Research-National Institute of Virology using inactivated Sars-Cov-2. The virus was isolated in an ICMR lab.

The price of the vaccine is yet to be determined, as the company is still looking at the cost of product development.

Bharat Biotech received approval from the Drugs Controller General of India to conduct Phase 3 clinical trial to establish the efficacy of the vaccine candidate. The company has begun site preparatory exercises for Phase 3, recruitment and dosage will begin in November.

The trial is conducted in nealy 30 sites around 14 states. About 2,000 subjects are enrolled per hospital and will provide tow doses each of the vaccine and placebo recipients.

The pharma company is looking to supply for both government and private markets. It is also in its preliminary discussions with other countries for probable supply.

Nearly Rs 350-400 crore is invested for the development of vaccines and the new manufacturing facilities, which include investments for conducting the Phase 3 clinical trials, in the next three months.

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The company, in a statement issued on Monday, confirmed this news and revealed that the online enrollment system is now closed for the 60,000-patient clinical trial.

According to reports, the participant’s illness will be reviewed by a safety monitoring board, and further trials will be carried out only after completing this process. The company also revealed that serious adverse events during human trials of vaccines are not uncommon, as there are a large number of participants involved.

“The number of SAEs can reasonably be expected to increase in trials involving large numbers of participants. Further, as many trials are placebo-controlled, it is not always immediately apparent whether a participant received a study treatment or a placebo,” read the company’s statement.

Last month, J&J had said its experimental Covid-19 vaccine had produced a strong immune response against the novel coronavirus in an early-to-mid stage clinical trial, following which the pharma giant kicked off a final 60,000-person clinical trial. Results of the coronavirus vaccine trial are expected by the end of this year or early 2021.

The J&J Phase 3 trial had started recruiting participants in late September, with a goal of enrolling upto 60,000 volunteers across more than 200 sites in US and around the world.

The other countries where the trials were taking place are Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, Peru and South Africa.

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The total number of COVID-19 infections in the country crossed the 59-lakh mark to reach 59, 03,933. Also, as many as 1,089 new fatalities pushed the death toll to 93,379. At present, India has 9,60,969 active cases, while 48,49,585 people have been treated and discharged, the data released by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare said.

Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) has said 7,02,69,975 samples have been tested up to September 25 for COVID-19. Of these, 13,41,535 samples were tested on September 25.

In the clinical trials, a single dose of Johnson & Johnson’s experimental Covid-19 vaccine has produced a strong immune response against the novel coronavirus. The results were seen in an early-to-mid stage clinical trial of the potential coronavirus vaccine being developed by Johnson & Johnson. The vaccine, called Ad26.COV2.S, was equally well-tolerated at two different doses. A single shot, versus a rival two-dose approach being tested by Moderna Inc and Pfizer Inc, could simplify distribution of the vaccine

Meanwhile, China has said it will make over 1 billion doses of coronavirus vaccine in a year after the Chinese government ramped up production. China’s vaccine production capacity will go up to 610 million doses by the end of this year.

Globally, as many as 32,475,585 people have been infected while 987,754 have lost their lives. Also, 22,377,620 people have recovered so far. India continues to remain the second worst-hit country after the United States, but topped the global chart in terms of virus recoveries.

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India’s coronavirus case tally crossed the 30 lakh-mark and settled at 30,44,940 on Saturday, 16 days after crossing the 20 lakh-mark and eight days after breaching the 25 lakh-mark.

With this, the covid-19 recovery rate stands at 75% and the case fatality rate declines to 1.85%.

Maharashtra has 1,71,859 active cases, the highest in the country followed by Andhra Pradesh with 89,742 active cases.

As many as 6,09,917 samples were tested on August 23 while a total of 3,59,02,137 samples have been tested so far.

The Union Health Ministry said the gap between recoveries and COVID-19 active cases continues to widen as the recoveries are more than three times the active cases.

Phase-2 clinical trials of the vaccine being developed by Oxford University and AstraZeneca would begin this week. The trials are being conducted by the Pune-based Serum Institute of India, which has an agreement with AstraZeneca to manufacture and market this vaccine for low and middle-income countries, including India.

Globally, infections have crossed the 23 million-mark with over 8 lakh deaths.US President Donald Trump, meanwhile, said a treatment based on blood plasma donated by people who’ve recovered from COVID-19 will be expanded, even before researchers fully understand how well it works. “This is a powerful therapy,” Trump said at a White House news conference. “Today’s action will dramatically expand access to this treatment.” The US Food and Drug Administration confirmed Sunday that it had cleared what’s known as convalescent plasma for use in certain patients

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As the entire global healthcare sector is busy containing the coronavirus pandemic, a UK health expert has warned that coronavirus will stay here, even if we succeed in developing a vaccine. These remarks are being made by Sir Mark Walport, a key member of the UK government’s Scientific Advisory Group.

According to Walport, COVID-19 is not like smallpox which can be wiped out from the world using vaccination. He also made it clear that the coronavirus could stay in the world in one form or another, and the only possible way to stay away from infection is by taking annual immune boosters.

Earlier, Soumya Swaminathan, a top WHO official had also revealed that vaccination is not capable enough to completely eradicate coronavirus from the planet. Soumya believes that humans should learn to live with the virus, as a complete safe haven in the near future is completely impossible.

A few weeks back, Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases had suggested that coronavirus is a perfect storm with no end in near sight. He also added that the virus will resurge whenever it gets a chance, and it is highly necessary to adopt healthy social distancing norms to stay away from the pandemic.

Amid all the attempts to contain this pandemic, coronavirus is continuing its killing spree in all nooks of the world. According to the latest statistics, there are 23 million positive cases in the world, and the total number of deaths has already crossed 8,12,000.

In India alone, there are more than 3.1 million recorded positive cases. The number of deaths in India has crossed 57,000, and this count is expected to go up in the coming days, considering the rate at which this pandemic is spreading in the rural areas of the country.

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