Some Australian people will be able to get the fourth dose of vaccination for Covid-19 or even the fifth dose in rare cases. According to the reports, the Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation (ATAGI) has advised about the additional vaccine dose for some specific groups of people.

What you need to know about the ‘Winter Booster’ programme is described below:

Who can avail fourth Covid-19 Vaccination dose?

People who are at least 65 years old or more than this can avail this Covid Jab.

People who reside in nursing homes for aged people, or work in institutions for the disabled can also get this dose.

People who are at least 16 years old and more can go for this fourth shot, who have already been diagnosed as having severe immunodeficiency (when your immune system’s defenses are weakened, making it more difficult for it to battle infections and disease).

People who are at the age of 50s, and older who are Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander can also take this shot.

COVID-19 poses the greatest risk of serious disease to those in these groups, according to the Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation (ATAGI).

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Some critically immunocompromised persons who had three doses as part of their main immunization series, followed by a booster, are now eligible for their fifth shot. Thanks to this great initiative, that will save many lives.

After the Final Dose, how long do you have to wait?

If you’ve had COVID-19 since getting your booster injection, you’ll have to wait four months to have your booster shot.

In exceptional cases, people are able to get the vaccination sooner, but the waiting period cannot be less than three months.

Which vaccine should I get for my fourth dose?

ATAGI’s recommended vaccines are Pfizer and Moderna, which are both mRNA vaccines.

However, the AstraZeneca vaccine can be administered if a person is unable to receive an mRNA vaccine due to medical reasons or if they refuse one.

Novavax is also allowed for use as a fourth dosage, but unless no other vaccination is found appropriate for the individual.

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After several European countries suspended the roll-out of AstraZeneca’s Covid-19 vaccine,  the World Health Organization issued a statement saying there was no reason to stop using the said vaccine.

Following reports of blood clots in some vaccinated people, a number of countries across Europe and Asia have suspended the use of Covid-19 vaccine, developed by AstraZeneca and Oxford University and manufactured by Serum Institute of India, a Pune-based vaccine giant.

The WHO’s vaccines advisory committee, who was currently looking at safety data, stressed that no causal link had been established between the vaccine and clotting. AstraZeneca is an excellent vaccine, as are the other vaccines that are being used, said WHO spokeswoman Margaret Harris at a briefing in Geneva.

She said that the organisation reviewed the data on deaths, and found no death, to date, proven to have been caused by vaccination. She affirmed that the use of AstraZeneca vaccine should continue, stressing though that any safety signal must be investigated. We must always ensure that we look for any safety signals when we roll out vaccines, and we must review them. But there is no indication to not use it, she added.

Denmark, Norway, Iceland, Italy and Romania postponed or limited the rollout of AstraZeneca vaccines after reports of recipients developing blood clots. The European Union’s regulator has also launched an inquiry to investigate the matter. However, many other nations have defended their use of the shot and said they will continue their respective inoculation campaigns.

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Earlier, AstraZeneca has said the vaccine has been studied extensively during Phase 3 trials and experts have reviewed data confirming the shot is generally well tolerated.

Around 5 million people in Europe had received the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine as per data on Wednesday. Of which 30 cases of thromboembolic events have been reported. Such are the cases that refer to blood clots forming in the blood vessels and blocking blood flow.

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A massive fire broke out at Pune-based vaccine manufacturing company Serum Institute of India on Thursday, killing five people. At least nine people who were trapped inside were evacuated from the under-construction building in SSI’s Manjari premises in Pune, police said. The company manufactures Covishield – the coronavirus vaccine that is developed by Oxford University and AstraZeneca. The vaccine has been given authorisation in India recently and is being used to inoculate Indian citizens in a mega vaccination drive.

Adar Poonawala, CEO of Serum Institute of India, offered his condolences to the families of victims who died in the tragic event.

However, he assured all governments and the public that fire would not affect the production of Covishield due to multiple production buildings that he had had kept in reserve to deal with such contingencies at @SerumInstIndia.

Murlidhar Mohol, the Pune mayor, said the cause of the fire is yet to be ascertained but there are speculations that welding, that was going on at the building, caused the fire.

Maharashtra Health Minister Rajesh Tope confirmed that the fire took place due to some ongoing welding work as some insulation material, which is inflammable, was kept near the work site.

Meanwhile, Indian Express reported that the fire has been brought under control and cooling operations are underway, according to Prashant Ranpise, Chief Fire Officer, Pune City Fire Brigade. He said that the fire was brought under control at 4.15 pm.

ANI has reported that fire has broken out again in one compartment of the same building at Serum Institute of India (SII), in Pune. Fire fighting operation is underway.

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The Oxford Covid-19 vaccine is one step away from emergency use authorisation with a government committee of experts sending it to the Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) for approval.

Pune-based Serum Institute of India is manufacturing the Oxford vaccine, Covishield, in a tie-up with pharma major AstraZeneca. Though an expert panel in the Central Drugs Standards Control Organisation (CDSCO) has recommended the Oxford Covid-19 vaccine for emergency use in India, the DCGI approval is awaited. India’s other vaccine candidate is Bharat Biotech and the Indian Council of Medical Research’s Covaxin. 

Both AstraZeneca-Oxford and Bharat Biotech-ICMR made presentations before the panel on Wednesday. Pfizer had sought more time to present their data. On Saturday, a dry run for vaccination is scheduled in all states. Once the vaccine is cleared by DCGI, the government is looking forward to vaccinate people from this month.

Health Minister Harsh Vardhan said he will monitor and analyse the dry run in the national capital. He said in this stage, administration, DMs, Doctors and other frontline workers are the priority and that they have to use their past experiences during vaccination. The security personnel have to take care of smooth transportation of the vaccine. The preparations of vaccination is like general elections, the minister said. The purpose of the dry run is to be ready for the actual rollout. Potential recipients of the vaccine will be informed via SMS. After inoculation, electronic certificates will also be provided, the Health Minister said.  

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Like the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, two doses of Covishield will be required but it does not need extremely low temperatures for storage, and hence believed to be easier to deliver. It is also cheap and easy to mass produce. Meanwhile, Bharat Biotech’s Covaxin showed it was safe and triggered immune responses in an ongoing early-stage trial and is gearing up for the late-stage trial.

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Just a few days after releasing the results of clinical trials of their Covid-19 vaccine candidate Covaxin, Oxford University and AstraZeneca have admitted that a manufacturing error had resulted in 90% effectiveness of the shot. Surprisingly, the volunteers who got a lower dosage seemed to be better protected than those who got the two full doses.

Astra Zeneca said that the vaccine was 90% effective among the low-dose group and showed 62% effectiveness in individuals who got two full doses. Combined, the vaccine was found to be 70% effective.

However, experts have raised doubts with the manner in which these results have been achieved. According to a report in The New York Times, experts have lost faith in the vaccine due to the error and the fact that the company decided to hide it initially. Another concern is that 90% of effectiveness was achieved on a trial group of younger people and the elderly.

While announcing the results, the company did not mention why some volunteers received a low dosage of the vaccine than others. However, executive vice-president of biopharmaceuticals research and development at AstraZeneca, Mene Pangalos later admitted that 90% effectiveness was achieved due to the ‘serendipity’ of an error in which some volunteers got a lower amount of dosage than the others.

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According to reports, when the vaccines were being distributed in April, researchers noticed that a group of people was reporting milder side effects than expected. Later they found out that these participants were given lower dosages by mistake. The manufacturing error was corrected and they were provided a full dose later when they were administered the second shot. Surprisingly, this group appeared to be more protected than the participants who got two full dosages. However, all the participants in the group that got the lower dose were under 55 years of age raising doubts about the vaccine’s efficacy in older people.

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Pharma major AstraZeneca, which is developing a Covid-19 vaccine with Oxford University, said on Monday that its vaccine for the novel coronavirus could be around 90% effective without any serious side effects. The British-Swedish drugmaker’s chief executive officer Pascal Soriot said the Covid-19 vaccine is highly effective and will have an immediate impact.

He said the vaccine will be affordable and globally available with supply of hundreds of millions of doses on approval and reiterated the commitment for not profiting from the pandemic.

The positive high-level results from an interim analysis of clinical trials of AZD1222 in the UK and Brazil showed the vaccine was highly effective in preventing Covid-19, the primary endpoint, and no hospitalisations or severe cases of the disease were reported in participants receiving the vaccine, the drugmaker said.

The Chief Investigator of the Vaccine Trial at Oxford, Professor Andrew Pollard said based on the findings in the trials, this is an effective vaccine and will save many lives.

Astra Zeneca said that the vaccine can be stored, transported and handled at normal refrigerated conditions (2-8 degrees Celsius/ 36-46 degrees Fahrenheit) for at least six months and administered within existing healthcare settings. An early analysis of the data shows that the vaccine stopped an average of 70% of participants from falling ill.

Pune’s Serum Institute of India, the world’s largest manufacturer of vaccines by volume, has partnered with AstraZeneca, the Gates Foundation and the Gavi vaccine alliance to produce more than a billion doses of a vaccine for global supply.

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British Prime minister Boris Johnson said that it was incredibly exciting news that the Oxford vaccine has proved so effective in trials. British Health Secretary Matt Hancock said the vaccine in the right dosage could be up to 90% effective.

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Such pauses are an expected part of any clinical study, especially large studies which includes thousands of people, said the company which is conducting highest profile efforts to contain the global pandemic. It said the company guidelines have allowed them to pause the study and it is different from a regulatory hold. Citing the participants’ privacy, the company has refused to disclose any more details about the illness.

As per reports of Stat News, a document was sent to outside researchers which stated a “pausing rule” had been met.

In an early-to-mid stage clinical trial, J&J’s experimental Covid-19 vaccine produced strong immune response.Following which, last month it had started enrolling upto 60,000 volunteers for Phase 3 clinical trials.

Due to pause, the online enrollment system had been closed and the independent patients safety committee would be convened, reported Stat News.

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Meanwhile,the late stage trials of a Covid-19 vaccine developed by AstraZeneca and Oxford University in the US remains on hold pending a regulatory review. In September, the company had paused the clinical trials due to similar challenges as faced by Johnson & Johnson. The trial was stopped when a UK study participant developed severe neurological symptoms and a rare inflammation of the spinal cord.

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

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Scientists in Oxford working on the coronavirus vaccine expect it will be approved by the beginning of the next year. Reports said the process for approval is underway, it could take less than 6 months to distribute the vaccine, but the timeline could be even quicker than that.

The vaccine developed by Oxford University and pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca is one of the few which is at the most advanced state of development and backed by Britain. Since April, human trials have been going on.

AstraZeneca CEO Pascal Soriot said the vaccine maybe available either late this year or early next year depending on the regulator’s okay. Reports said the elderly and the vulnerable will be eligible for the coronavirus vaccine first, which will be crucial in allowing the lifting of restrictions. Young, healthy adults would be lower down the list.

The UK government has already ordered 100 million doses of the Oxford vaccine. Nilay Shah, the head of the department of chemical engineering at Imperial College London, said just because there is a vaccine does not mean everyone will be vaccinated within a month. He said it takes some time to vaccinate all the people.

The UK Department of Health disputed Shah’s comments and said they are confident about the Covid-19 vaccine and they have made adequate provisions to deploy it across the country as quickly as possible when it will be ready to use. The United Kingdom is one of the worst-hit countries in Europe with infections surpassing 400,000 while deaths have reached 42,268.

On a global scale, more than 34,000,000 people have been infected with the virus and deaths have surpassed one million.

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