By Raju Vernekar
Mumbai, Jan 2:
Even as the Centre has announced to conduct dry run of “Covax” in Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Gujarat and Punjab, the Maharashtra Health Department has announced the similar exercise in four districts on Saturday.
Maharashtra will conduct a dry run for the COVID-19 vaccine in four districts — Pune, Nagpur, Jalna, and Nandurbar, on 02 January, Maharashtra Health Minister Rajesh Tope announced on Friday. He also informed that each district will have three vaccination centres with 25 people for vaccination at each centre. This decision by the Maharashtra government comes after the Centre asked all states and UTs to ensure effective preparedness for the vaccine rollout.
According to the Union Health Ministry, the activity is proposed to be conducted in all state capitals in at least three session sites. Whereas, some states will also include districts that are situated in difficult terrain or have poor logistical support.
The Union government had conducted a two-day dry run in Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Gujarat, and Punjab on 28 and 29 December, as a step to prep up before the actual thing takes off.
Three vaccine candidates, including Pfizer’s, have applied for emergency use authorisation (EUA) in India. However, Oxford-AstraZeneca’s “Covishield” and Bharat Biotech’s “Covaxin” seem ahead in the race to become the country’s first COVID-19 vaccine.
The World Health Organization (WHO) on Thursday granted “emergency validation” to Pfizer’s vaccine, its first since the start of the pandemic. The WHO decision will enable UNICEF and the Pan-American Health Organization (PAHO) to procure the vaccine for distribution to the countries in need.
The European Union (EU) on Thursday said Germany’s “BioNTech SE”, which has developed a vaccine with America’s Pfizer Inc, has sought approval for an additional vaccine dose from each vial, instead of the five currently approved. The request, the 27-nation bloc said, will be reviewed by its human medicines committee, “in the shortest time frame possible.”
Pakistan said China has assured of providing it with over a million doses of the vaccine developed by “Sinopharm”, for emergency use. The vaccine, China’s first home grown for COVID-19, was, earlier in the day, granted “conditional approval.”
It’s been almost a month since several countries started vaccinations against the coronavirus disease. While the United Kingdom was the first country anywhere to approve a COVID-19 vaccine and begin immunisation drive, several others have joined the list since then. Most countries have approved vaccines of Pfizer Inc-BioNTech SE or “Moderna”, while some are using both. The Oxford University-AstraZeneca vaccine, too, has received approval, with the UK being the first country to give a nod, followed by Argentina.
