Single COVID-19 vaccine shot 96.6% effective in preventing death, two doses 97.5%, says ICMR

A single COVID-19 vaccine dose is 96.6 percent effective in death prevention while two shots have 97.5 percent efficacy against the disease, Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) chief Balram Bhargava said at a press briefing on Thursday. According to a Scroll report, the figures are based on data collated between 18 April and 15 August this year. Bhargava mentioned that the vaccines have a “protective effect against death” across age groups, which includes beneficiaries above 60, between 45 and 59 years, or 18 to 44 years. At the press meet in Delhi, Niti Aayog member for health, Dr VK Paul said 18 percent of the adult population have been administered both doses of the jab, while 58 percent have received the first dose, reported Hindustan Times. “It should be 100 percent. No one should be left behind, those left should get administered to develop herd immunity,” said Paul. The cumulative number of total COVID-19 vaccine doses administered in the country so far has crossed 72 crore on Thursday, the official added. The Centre warned that the second wave of COVID-19 in India “is not over yet.” The government said infections among the fully vaccinated people do happen, but emphasized that they “do not result in mortality” and account for an extremely low level of hospitalization. Addressing a press conference, Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan said 35 districts are still reporting a weekly COVID-19 positivity rate of over 10 percent while in 30 districts it is between five to 10 percent As per an NDTV report, amid a concerning dengue outbreak in Uttar Pradesh, largely affecting children, Paul also cautioned against mosquito-borne diseases. The Union government on Thursday said no scientific body suggests that vaccination of children against COVID-19 should be a condition for reopening schools, but inoculation of teachers, school employees and parents is desirable. Paul said whether children have to be vaccinated and who among them should get the jabs is an evolving scientific and public health discourse. “There is no WHO recommendation also that we should move in that direction for reasons such as low mortality and high incidence of asymptomatic infection. We as a nation and government are working actively in the direction of scientific validation of our vaccines for potential use in children,” he said. The Indian government has placed a purchase order with the Serum Institute of India (SII) for 66 crore doses of Covishield to be supplied by December, official sources said on Thursday. The development comes after Prakash Kumar Singh, the Director, Government and Regulatory Affairs at SII, informed the Union health ministry that the firm would be able to supply 20.29 crore doses of Covishied in the month of September. With inputs from PTI