India's Massive COVID Inoculation Program
"It's a great day for India and the world, because this is going to be the most affordable vaccine, that will be equitably distributed as much as possible across the globe.""This is not going to go to the private market, private hospitals and other places right now. We're given a restricted license to only give it and provide it to the government of India, because they want to prioritize for the most vulnerable and needy segments first.""[The Serum Institute of India is expecting to sign a formal deal with the Indian government] imminently, [and people will start getting vaccinated in the] next seven to 10 days."Adar Poonawalla, CEO, Serum Institute of India"I would say that we should in the first phase focus predominantly on the Serum Institute of India -- the Astra Zeneca vaccine, and the Bharat Biotech is only as a standby or a backup in case there is a surge in the number of cases."Dr. Randeep Guleria, director, All India Institute of Medical Sciences
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| Governor of the eastern Indian state of West Bengal Jagdeep Dhankhar (center) at the launch of the third phase of the regulatory trial of COVAXIN in December 2020. |
The second most populous country in the world with 1.3 billion people, is about to set off on a massive population inoculation project. Much depends on its success. India has already lost 148,000 people to complications induced by the SARS-CoV-2 virus causing COVID-19. An enormous death toll, with over ten million cases of COVID, a caseload second to that of the United States. With a population base of 328 million people, one-quarter that of India's, the United States has suffered 354,000 COVID related deaths.
A day ago India granted emergency approval to two vaccines; Oxford-AstraZeneca and Covxin, India's own developed vaccine. And with those two vaccines in production and distribution prepared to begin, India will undertake an immunization program unprecedented for the sheer scale of its intended purpose in a country whose population is second only to that of China's. Regulators in the United Kingdom gave approval to the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine mere days before, preparing to roll it out for the very same purpose in COVID hard-hit Britain.
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| Vials of AstraZeneca's Covishield coronavirus vaccine are seen inside a visual inspection machine in a lab at the Serum Institute of India, in Pune, India. |
India's immediate plans are to administer the vaccine to 300 million people in the first phase of the rollout which is set to begin within days. Known as Covishield in India, the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine is locally produced by the world's largest vaccine manufacturer, the Serum Institute of India, which has stockpiled 40 to 50 million doses, planning by July to produce 300 million doses. The Institute's owner has pledged 50 percent of its product to be set aside specifically for India.
According to interim results the vaccine is 62 percent effective among those administered two doses of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine. Its researchers realized that with one dose only less strong than the two administered doses the effectiveness rate proved to be 90 percent. Leaving scientists to actively study the inadvertent dosage leading to the greater effectiveness rate. A 95 percent efficacy is claimed for Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna, already rolled out in initial vaccination stages in the United States and Canada.
A statement issued by the India drug regulator indicates phase 2 and 3 trials were carried out on 1,500 participants finding the vaccine "comparable" with data from overseas studies, with the approval geared to regulatory conditionalities. Questions remain of a cautionary nature related to the fast track approval of home-grown Covaxin, not yet having completed its third phase of human clinical trials.
"Detailed analysis documents need to be put in the public domain", stated public health expert Giridhar Babu, suggesting that such terms as "restricted use", have a need to be fully explained. According to the opinion expressed by a politician of the opposition Congress party, the Covaxin approval was "premature and could be dangerous". Indicating that India has its share of skeptics and those expressing the need for cautionary surveillance.
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| An Indian health official takes part in a dry run for Covid-19 vaccinations at an Urban Community Health Centre in Ajmer, Rajasthan, India on January 2. |
Labels: India, Oxford-AstraZeneca, Population Vaccination
posted by Pieface @ Tuesday, January 05, 2021
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