The second wave of the deadly pandemic is withdrawing gradually, and the number of ‘daily reported case’ graph is facing a fall as because of the stern lockdown policies imposed in the states along with the acceleration in the vaccination process in the country.
The Union ministry of Health and Family welfare announced on Sunday that nearly 120 million vaccine doses will be available for the national Covid vaccination programme in June, even as both companies supplying the jabs are looking at ramping up their production capacity to 110-120 million doses from the existing 75-80 million. “In June 2021, close to 120 million (119,570,000) doses will be available for the national Covid-19 vaccination programme… Vaccination is an integral pillar of the comprehensive strategy of the government of India for containment and management of the pandemic, along with test, track, treat and Covid-appropriate behaviour. As part of the nationwide vaccination drive, the government of India has been supporting the states and UTs by providing them Covid-19 vaccines free of cost,” the health ministry said in a statement. The ministry, however, did not share a state-wise break-up of the number of vaccine doses allotted for the month of June. According to reports, Serum Institute of India’s chief executive officer, Adar Poonawalla, informed Union home minister Amit Shah that the company would be ramping up vaccine production in June by around 90-100 million doses.
SII locally produces the Oxford-AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine under the brand name Covishield.
Meanwhile, amid this another news regarding the vaccination is materializing, according to which, Dr Vinod Kumar Paul, chairman of the National Expert Group on Vaccine Administration for Covid-19, has rectified his statement that said ‘no country in the world was vaccinating children’ following an uproar on social media and backlash from several political leaders.
“The release mentions that ‘no country in the world is giving vaccines to children’. It should read ‘no country in the world is giving vaccines to children under 12 years.’ The other points made in that section are valid. The inadvertent typographical omission is regretted,” Paul said in a revised statement.
On May 27, NITI Aayog, a public policy think tank of the Government of India, released a list addressing ‘myths’ around the vaccination drive. The press release has “facts” told by Dr Vinod Paul, Member (Health) of NITI Aayog, against all the ‘myths’ that are going around across the country about the inefficiency of government in handling the second wave of coronavirus and also its failure in administering coronavirus vaccine. While clarifying the “myths” that the “Centre is not taking any step to vaccinate children,” Paul said: ‘as of now, no country in the world is giving vaccines to children’
The ruling party’s social media handles and several ministers, including Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, tweeted Paul’s statement. Sitharam said, “As of now, no country in the world is giving vaccines to children. WHO has no recommendation on vaccinating children. Trials on children in India are going to begin soon. The decision is to be taken by scientists after data is available based on trials.”
While the World Health Organisation part is correct, the claim about no country vaccinating children is wrong. The US had given the Pfizer vaccine to 600,000 children aged 12 to 15 after the regulator cleared the American drug maker’s and BioNTech’s shot for use in that age group, Reuters said on May 18. Other countries, too, have started vaccinating children. Soon, Paul’s statement was edited. Sitharaman also tweeted the clarification, while the BJP’s Twitter handle deleted the tweet.
A report by The Guardian published on May 5, 2021, said that Canada is the first nation in the world that approved the use of Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine for children between the ages of 12-15 years.
Five days later, on 10 May 2021, the FDA expanded the emergency use authorisation (EUA) for the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine and inlcuded kids aged between 12 and 15 years. As of 18 May, the US had vaccinated 6,00,000 children aged between 12 and 15 years.
Bharat Biotech’s Covaxin is expected to begin the trials on children in June. The drug controller gave the company permission to start the trials last week.
On Thursday, 27 May, Pfizer told the Indian government that its vaccine shows “high effectiveness” against the variant found in India. The government is yet to procure the vaccine. The National News reported on May 24, 2021, that thousands of 12 to 15 years old in Dubai receive Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine in the first week of approval. Qatar has opened an online registration portal for children aged between 12 and 15 years for the coronavirus vaccine.
Hence, the claim that no country in the world is vaccinating children is false. As, countries like the USA, UAE, and Canada have already started vaccinating kids, while some others are going to start soon.
