Covid-19 vaccine: Is government vaccinating children with expired Covaxin? Know what’s the confusion behind Covaxin’s shelf life
Just after the vaccination registration for adolescents started, new worries about Covaxin vial expiry dates surfaced. Know what’s the confusion behind the Covaxin shelf life.
After a year of launching a vaccination campaign for adults, the central government has started its immunisation drive for children between the age of 15-18 years from 3rd January across the country, terming it as the second phase of the committed and determined campaign.
The Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) approved the administration of Bharat Biotech-manufactured Covaxin to children above the age of 12 on December 25, 2021. Shortly after, Prime Minister Narendra Modi stated that from January 3 onwards, adolescents over the age of 15 will be allowed to get jabbed.
According to the health ministry, almost 41 lakh teenagers have already taken their first dose of Covaxin, thus declaring the second phase a good start, at least in comparison to the rollout that occurred in the early months of last year.
Given the increased threat of the Omicron strain, which drove states to impose restrictions ahead of New Year’s celebrations and has now spurred states to implement further restrictions. Considering the rapid spread of Covid-19 cases, vaccinating the 8-10 crore young Indians between the ages of 15 and 17 is critical.
However, just after the vaccination registration for adolescents started, new worries about Covaxin vial expiry dates surfaced. On Monday, several people turned to social media to refute accusations that adolescents were being given Covaxin doses from vials with expired dates. These allegations were labelled false and misleading by the Union Health Ministry, which said they were based on incomplete information.
What’s the confusion about the Covaxin’s shelf life?
A vaccination is made up of a mixture of different proteins, lipids, and carbohydrates, as well as inactivated viral particles and adjuvants. The shelf life of vaccination, like that of other medical products, is determined by how well the vaccine’s efficacy deteriorates over time.
A vaccination’s efficacy is normally determined by testing it on animals at different intervals to see when chemical processes are impaired and the vaccine loses its efficacy. According to the World Health Organization, a vaccine’s stability – which determines its shelf life – specifies the inoculant’s capacity to retain its chemical, physical, microbiological, and biological characteristics throughout time.
The Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO) has approved Covaxin’s shelf life from nine to twelve months on October 25 last year, in response to an application made by Bharat Biotech. It wasn’t the first time it had done so; in February last year, it approved an extension of Covishield’s shelf life from 6 to 9 months, made by Serum Institute of India.
This is not uncommon for medication supervisors to do, but they must be persuaded by scientific evidence presented by vaccine developers. Even after vaccines have been licensed, manufacturers continue to do research in order to provide more exact studies of vaccine stability. As the COVID-19 vaccines get older, there may be some changes, the ministry said in a statement. That doesn’t necessarily imply that we’re making mistakes, but rather that we’re relying on more data to arrive at a conclusion.
Bharat Biotech has apparently begun accumulating unused stockpiles of its COVID-19 vaccinations to re-label them with the expiry date, with Covaxin being the sole vaccine available to India’s youngsters at this time.
India registers 313 new Covid cases, active cases reach 2,041, 3 deaths recorded in last 24 hours
The currently available data suggests that the JN.1 variant is neither leading to an exponential rise in the new cases nor a rise in the hospitalization and mortality.
Published
11 months ago
on
January 20, 2024
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India saw a single-day rise of 313 new Covid cases, while the active caseload has declined to 2,041, the health ministry said on Saturday. Three deaths: two from Karnataka and one from Maharashtra were reported in the last 24 hours.
According to the ministry website, the number of active cases in the country stood at 2,331 on Friday. The number of cases of Covid had dropped to double digits till December 5, but it began to start increasing after the emergence of a new variant and cold weather conditions.
According to reports after December 5, the highest single day rise of 841new cases was reported on December 31, 2023, which is 0.2% of the peak cases reported in May 2021. Of the total active cases, a large majority of these (around 92%) are recovering under home isolation.
The currently available data suggests that the JN.1 variant is neither leading to an exponential rise in the new cases nor a rise in the hospitalization and mortality. India has witnessed three waves of Covid in the past with its peak incidence of daily new cases and deaths being reported during the delta wave in April June 2021.
At its peak, 414,188 new cases and 3915 deaths were reported on May 7, 2021. Since the pandemic started in early 2020, there have have been 4.5 crore people who have got infected and this has resulted in the death of 5.3 lakh persons in a total time span of four years.
According to the ministry data, the total number of persons who have recuperated from the disease are 4.4 crore with total recovery rate recorded is 98.81%. A total number of 220.67 crore doses of Covid vaccines have been administered in India so far.
India registers 605 new COVID-19 cases and 4 deaths in last 24 hours
The number of people who have recovered from the disease has gone up to 4,44,81,341, an increase of 648 since Sunday morning. In Kerala a 70 year-old male with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and 81year-old male with T2DM and HTN, and in Karnataka, a 48 year old male with CA and TB died, while one person in Tripura succumbed to COVID.
Published
11 months ago
on
January 8, 2024
By
India recorded 605 fresh COVID-19 cases and four deaths in the last 24 hours. The active cases have increased to 4002, while India’s overall COVID case tally stands at over 4.5 crore (4,50,18,792). The death toll was recorded at 5,33,396 with four new deaths – two from Kerala and one each in Karnataka and Tripura – reported in the last 24 hours, the data updated at 8am stated.
The number of people who have recovered from the disease has gone up to 4,44,81,341, an increase of 648 since Sunday morning. In Kerala a 70 year-old male with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and 81year-old male with T2DM and HTN, and in Karnataka, a 48 year old male with CA and TB died, while one person in Tripura succumbed to COVID.
The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) reported that 11,838 doses of the vaccine had been administered in the country till January 7. The data is a compilation of the Integrated Disease Surveillance Programme (National Centre for Disease Control), media bulletins and websites of various states at 8am on January 4.
As the winter season sets in, health experts are highlighting a sudden surge in viral infections, influenza, and COVID-19 cases. Dr Nikhil Modi, a senior pulmonologist at Indraprastha Apollo Hospital, pointed out that the decrease in temperature leads to increase in moisture in the air, low wind speed and also causes an increase in pollution levels. This contributes highly to various infections.
Due to the decrease in temperature the fog combines with the pollution in the air which further leads to the formation of smog. This condition of the atmosphere can cause different types of infections and difficulty in breathing. Both the state and the central government are keeping a close watch on the new Omicron Subvariant JN.1. J.N.1 is a Variant of Interest (VOI) which is under intense scientific scrutiny.
India records 774 new Covid-19 cases, 2 deaths in 24 hours
The number of daily cases was in double digits till December 5 but it started to rise again amid cold weather conditions and after the emergence of new Covid-19 variant, JN.1.
Published
11 months ago
on
January 6, 2024
By
India on Saturday had a single-day rise of 774 Covid cases while the number of active cases stood at 4,187, the Union health ministry said. As many as two deaths – one each from Tamil Nadu and Gujarat were reported in a span of 24 hours. Of the 4,187 active cases, the majority (over 92%) are recovering under home isolation.
The number of daily cases was in double digits till December 5 but it started to rise again amid cold weather conditions and after the emergence of new Covid-19 variant, JN.1. The central government has asked the state government and union territories to maintain a constant vigil amid an upward trend in the number of Covid-cases and the detection of the JN.1 sub variant in the country.
According to reports after December 5, the highest single-day rise of 841 cases was reported on December 31, 2023, which was 0.2% of the peak cases reported in May 2021. A health official said that the JN.1 variant is neither leading to an exponential rise in new cases nor a surge in hospitalisation and mortality in the country.
The Karnataka government has made the Covid test mandatory for those with Influenza like illness (ILI) or Severe Acute Respiratory Illness (SARI). Karnataka Health Minister Dinesh Gundu Rao said more than 7000 tests are being done every day and the COVID positivity rate is 3.82%. The positivity rate in the state has not come down yet.
He said those with symptoms are being monitored and tested. Those who are in isolation at home have been told to take extra care. He added it is expected that the trend of decreasing Covid cases may start next week in Karnataka. India has witnessed three waves of Covid-19 in the past with the peak incidence of daily cases and deaths being reported during the Delta wave during April-June 2021. At its peak 4,14,188 cases and 3915 deaths were reported on May 7, 2021.
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