Covid-19 vaccine updates: Delhi can be inoculated in weeks, PM Modi’s 3-city tour today

The World Health Organization said it needs to evaluate coronavirus vaccines and their immune responses based on more than just a press release.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday will visit three vaccine developments sites in Ahmedabad, Hyderabad and Pune in what is being considered as the latest fillip to India’s vaccine production. Recently, PM Modi had held discussions with states and union territories on vaccine distribution. The development comes as vaccine development moves ahead with three global candidates claiming promising results.

A health worker collects samples for Covid-19 test at Delhi-Noida border.(PTI)

Meanwhile, Delhi health minister Satyendar Jain has said that the Capital has adequate infrastructure to vaccinate its entire population in a few weeks once a vaccine is available. “Once a vaccine is available, we can vaccinate the entire population of Delhi in a few weeks,” he said.

Here are the latest development from across the world

> US health authorities will hold an emergency meeting next week to recommend that a coronavirus vaccine awaiting approval be given first to healthcare professionals and people in long-term care facilities

> Canada Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said he expects more than half of Canadians to receive a vaccine by next September. Earlier, he had come under fire after he said Canada will have to wait for vaccine and Canada does not have mass vaccine-production facilities like the US, the UK and Germany.

> Only press release won’t suffice, the World Health Organization said on the efficacy of vaccine candidates. It needs to evaluate coronavirus vaccines and their immune responses based on more than just a press release, Kate O’Brien, WHO’s director of immunisation vaccines and biologicals.

> Ten Covid-19 vaccines could be available by the middle of next year if they win regulatory approval, but their inventors need patent protection, the head of the global pharmaceutical industry group has said.

> Russia, which has seen a sudden surge in infections since September, plans to vaccinate more than 400,000 military personnel first.

> Indian pharmaceutical company Hetero will manufacture more than 100 million doses of Russia’s Sputnik V vaccine per year.

(With Agency Inputs)