New Delhi, India
AP
India authorised two COVID-19 vaccines on Sunday, paving the way for a huge inoculation program to stem the coronavirus pandemic in the world’s second-most populous country.
India’s drugs regulator gave an emergency authorization for the vaccines developed by Oxford University and UK-based drugmaker AstraZeneca and another developed by the Indian company Bharat Biotech.
A health worker engages in a COVID-19 vaccine delivery system trial in New Delhi, India, on Saturday, 2nd January. India tested its COVID-19 vaccine delivery system with a nationwide trial on Saturday as it prepares to roll-out an inoculation program to stem the coronavirus pandemic. Saturday’s exercise included necessary data entry into an online platform for monitoring vaccine delivery, along with testing of cold storage and transportation arrangements for the vaccine, the health ministry had said. PICTURE: AP Photo/Altaf Qadri.
Drugs Controller General Dr Venugopal G Somani said both would require two doses and the decision was made after “careful examination” by the Central Drugs Standard Control Organization, India’s pharmaceutical regulator. Both vaccines are cheaper and easier to use than ones by Pfizer and Moderna since they do not require ultra-cold storage facilities.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi called the vaccine approval a “decisive turning point to strengthen a spirited fight.” “Congratulations India,” Modi tweeted.
India’s initial immunisation plan aims to vaccinate 300 million people – healthcare workers, front-line staff including police and those considered vulnerable due to their age or other diseases – by August.
Meanwhile, the COVID-19 death toll in the United States has surpassed 350,000 as experts anticipate another surge in coronavirus cases and deaths stemming from holiday gatherings over Christmas and New Year’s.
Data compiled by Johns Hopkins University shows the US passed the threshold early Sunday morning. More than 20 million people in the country have been infected. The US has begun using two coronavirus vaccines to protect health care workers and nursing home residents and staff but the rollout of the inoculation program has been criticised as being slow and chaotic.
Multiple states have reported a record number of cases over the past few days, including North Carolina and Arizona. Mortuary owners in hard-hit Southern California say they’re being inundated with bodies.
The US by far has reported the most deaths from COVID-19 in the world, followed by Brazil, which has reported more than 195,000 deaths.
And in the UK, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson warned Sunday that more onerous lockdown restrictions in England are likely as the country reels from a new coronavirus variant that has pushed infection rates to their highest recorded levels.
Johnson, though, insisted he has “no doubt” that schools are safe and urged parents to send their children back into the classroom in areas of England where they can. Unions representing teachers have called for schools to turn to remote learning for at least a couple of weeks more due to the new variant, which scientists have said is up to 70 per cent more contagious.
The UK is in the midst of an acute outbreak, recording more than 50,000 new coronavirus infections a day over the past five days. On Saturday, it notched a daily record of 57,725 new cases. The country has seen nearly 75,000 virus-related deaths.
“We are entirely reconciled to do what it takes to get the virus under control, that may involve tougher measures in the weeks ahead,” Johnson said in an interview with the BBC.
In some parts of the British capital and its surrounding areas, there are around 1,000 cases per 100,000 people.
