COVID-19 vaccine
Covid-19 death toll in Bangladesh crosses 12,000
Bangladesh on Tuesday crossed the grim milestone of 12,000 coronavirus fatalities, nearly 15 months after reporting the first death in March last year.
With 33 latest fatalities in 24 hours until morning, the death tally soared to 12,005.
The country has been seeing below 60 daily deaths for a week after recording over 100 fatalities on several occasions last month.
However, the mortality rate rose to 1.55 percent after staying at 1.54 for four days, according to a handout of the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS).
Besides, 1,230 new cases were detected after testing of 14,184 samples, pushing up the caseload to 776,257. Bangladesh has so far carried out 5,661,926 tests.
The daily infection rate fell slightly to 8.67 percent from Monday’s 8.99 percent.
Also read: Ready to offer more support if Covid situation deteriorates in Bangladesh: China
After a massive upsurge in April, the number of daily cases fell below 2,000 since May 1.
However, the number of tests, as well as new cases, has declined from May 4, according to corona.gov.bd.
Global Covid-19 cases near 159 million
The Covid-19 pandemic continues to devastate countries across the world, as cases approach 159 million.
According to Johns Hopkins University (JHU), the total Covid caseload reached 158,616,717 while the death toll from the virus surged to 3,299,694 on Tuesday.
The US has logged 32,743,300 cases and 582,150 deaths as of Tuesday morning, and the country has expanded the use of Pfizer’s Covid-19 vaccine to children as young as 12, in an effort to protect them.
Brazil on Monday reported 889 more deaths from Covid-19, raising the national count to 423,229, the Ministry of Health said.
Read:India reports 366,161 new COVID-19 cases
According to the ministry, Brazil now has a death rate of 201.4 per 100,000 inhabitants.
Meanwhile, 25,200 more infections were detected in the South American country, raising the nationwide tally to 15,209,990.
Brazil has the world's second-highest Covid-19 death toll, after the United States, and the third-largest caseload, after the United States and India.
The South American country is experiencing a new wave of infections, which has resulted in an increase in cases and deaths as hospitals are overwhelmed by Covid patients.
India, which has been experiencing a new surge in Covid-19 infections and deaths for the past several days, has so far registered 22,662,575 cases with 246,116 fatalities.
Situation in Bangladesh
Bangladesh’s coronavirus fatalities are nearing another grim milestone even as deaths from the virus infection slow down.
Health authorities on Monday reported 38 more Covid-19-related deaths in 24 hours, pushing up the total number of fatalities to 11,972.
However, the mortality rate remained static at 1.54 percent for the last four days, said a handout of the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS).
Meanwhile, 1,514 new cases were detected after testing 16,848 samples, pushing up the total case count to 7,75,027. Bangladesh has so far carried out 5,647,742 tests.
Read:Covid-19 death toll in Bangladesh nears 12000
The country reported its first coronavirus cases on March 8 last year and the first death on the 18th of that month.
Extended lockdown
The government has issued a notification extending the ongoing lockdown till May 16 with six fresh directives alongside the existing ones to contain the spread of Covid-19.
According to the notification issued by the Cabinet Division, officials of all government, semi-government, autonomous and private organisations, as well as banks and financial institutions have been asked to remain at their respective workstations during the upcoming Eid-ul-Fitr holidays.
Shops and shopping malls will remain open from 10am to 8pm maintaining strict health guidelines. If any violations are seen, the shopping malls and shops will be closed instantly, says the notification.
Inter-district transport services will remain suspended though intra-district transport services resumed from Thursday. However, launch and train services will remain suspended.
Vaccination drive
Bangladesh launched its vaccination drive on February 7 with Oxford-AstraZeneca doses it acquired from India's Serum Institute.
Bangladesh signed an agreement with Serum for 30 million doses. But a record number of cases in India has made the delivery of the doses uncertain.
India has tried to ward off its Covid crisis by ramping up the production of vaccines and banning their export, cutting off supplies to neighbours such as Bangladesh and Nepal as they struggle with infection surges.
Read:Sinopharm begins shipment of its vaccine to Bangladesh
However, DGHS DG Prof ABM Khurshid Alam recently assured that Bangladesh would get 2.1 million doses of vaccines by May.
Ready to offer more support if Covid situation deteriorates in Bangladesh: China
Chinese Ambassador to Bangladesh Li Jiming has said China is ready to help Bangladesh with more medical supplies, including medical oxygen, if the situation gets worse as it is facing the second wave of Covid-19.
“China is ready to offer more, if needed,” he said, recalling how Bangladesh and China helped each other in dealing with the first wave of Covid-19.
Read:Chinese Embassy invites essays from Bangladeshi friends
Ambassador Li said they will do whatever they can during the second wave of Covid-19 in Bangladesh.
He said this pandemic unseen in a century is a global challenge, and past experience keeps reminding them that only through cooperation within the international community they can embrace victory.
“Bangladesh has done what it can to fight the pandemic, and it’s my strong conviction that with the joint efforts of the people of Bangladesh and government, and the help of the international community, Bangladesh’s V-Day over Covid-19 will be just around the corner,” said the Chinese Ambassador.
He made the remarks during a virtual programme organised by the Diplomatic Correspondents Association, Bangladesh (DCAB) on Monday. DCAB President Pantho Rahaman and its General Secretary AKM Moinuddin also spoke at the event.
The Ambassador said it is believed that the safe and reliable Chinese vaccine will play a positive role in the construction of Bangladesh’s anti-epidemic defence line, help the people of Bangladesh to overcome the epidemic, and continue the friendship story between the two countries.
He said, “The virus respects no boundary, and we’re all in this together. Solidarity and cooperation are our most powerful weapon in this war.”
The envoy said China hopes all parties will take real action, provide more vaccines to developing countries, including Bangladesh, and contribute to the equitable distribution and application of vaccines across the world so that we can defeat the virus at an early date.
Some 500,000 doses of Covid-19 vaccines gifted by the Chinese government to Bangladesh will arrive in Dhaka on Wednesday.
Ambassador Li said it is a concrete step towards honoring President Xi Jinping’s pledge of making Covid-19 vaccines a global public good, a solid action taken by both sides towards building a community with a shared future for mankind, and a powerful measure to implement the consensus reached in the recent virtual meeting of Foreign Ministers of China, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka on Covid-19.
Read:5 lakh doses of Chinese vaccine to arrive on May 12: Envoy
This vaccine gift (Sinopharm Covid-19 vaccine) is produced by Beijing Bio-Institute of Biological Products Co Ltd, a subsidiary of China National Biotec Group.
The World Health Organization (WHO) listed the Sinopharm COVID-19 vaccine for emergency use, giving the green light for this vaccine to be rolled out globally. The Sinopharm product is an inactivated vaccine called SARS-CoV-2 Vaccine (Vero Cell).
He said its efficacy for symptomatic and hospitalised disease was estimated to be over 79%, all age groups combined and its easy storage requirements make it highly suitable for low-resource settings.
The envoy said it is also the first vaccine that will carry a vaccine vial monitor, a small sticker on the vaccine vials that change color as the vaccine is exposed to heat, letting health workers know whether the vaccine can be safely used.
Last year, at China’s most trying moments, Bangladesh was among the first countries to donate medical supplies to China in a great act of valuable support.
When the epidemic situation in China eased, China supported Bangladesh’s fight against the virus through various means including gifting medical supplies and sending medical experts.
China offered to gift vaccines to Bangladesh in February but the Embassy did not get the EUA (Emergency Use Authorization) from the government of Bangladesh until April 30.
Though facing difficulties of huge domestic demand and a tight supply of international market, China decided to give priority to ensuring that the vaccines arrive in Bangladesh as soon as possible, said the Ambassador.
He said although it was the May Day holiday in China (five days), many Chinese workers worked overtime and sacrificed personal rest time to rush out these vaccines in less than two weeks.
Read:Beijing wants Dhaka not to join Quad
The Ambassador said it is under the leadership of the Communist Party of China (CPC) and with the great spirit of fighting the pandemic that they are able to conquer the virus.
The year 2021 marks the birth centenary of the CPC which, in the days to come, will continue leading the Chinese people to work relentlessly to fight the pandemic, promote global economic recovery and defend peace, development, equity, justice, democracy and freedom which are shared values of humanity, he said.
Pfizer COVID-19 shot expanded to US children as young as 12
U.S. regulators on Monday expanded the use of Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine to children as young as 12, offering a way to protect the nation’s adolescents before they head back to school in the fall and paving the way for them to return to more normal activities.
Shots could begin as soon as Thursday, after a federal vaccine advisory committee issues recommendations for using the two-dose vaccine in 12- to 15-year-olds. An announcement is expected Wednesday.
Most COVID-19 vaccines worldwide have been authorized for adults. Pfizer’s vaccine is being used in multiple countries for teens as young as 16, and Canada recently became the first to expand use to 12 and up. Parents, school administrators and public health officials elsewhere have eagerly awaited approval for the shot to be made available to more kids.
Read:Vaccine deserts: Some countries have no COVID-19 jabs at all
“This is a watershed moment in our ability to fight back the COVID-19 pandemic,” Dr. Bill Gruber, a Pfizer senior vice president who’s also a pediatrician, told The Associated Press.
The Food and Drug Administration declared that the Pfizer vaccine is safe and offers strong protection for younger teens based on testing of more than 2,000 U.S. volunteers ages 12 to 15. The agency noted there were no cases of COVID-19 among fully vaccinated adolescents compared with 16 among kids given dummy shots. More intriguing, researchers found the kids developed higher levels of virus-fighting antibodies than earlier studies measured in young adults.
The younger teens received the same vaccine dosage as adults and had the same side effects, mostly sore arms and flu-like fever, chills or aches that signal a revved-up immune system, especially after the second dose.
Pfizer’s testing in adolescents “met our rigorous standards,” FDA vaccine chief Dr. Peter Marks said. “Having a vaccine authorized for a younger population is a critical step in continuing to lessen the immense public health burden caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.”
Pfizer and its German partner BioNTech recently requested similar authorization in the European Union, with other countries to follow.
The latest news is welcome for U.S. families struggling to decide what activities are safe to resume when the youngest family members remain unvaccinated.
“I can’t feel totally comfortable because my boys aren’t vaccinated,” said Carrie Vittitoe, a substitute teacher and freelance writer in Louisville, Kentucky, who is fully vaccinated, as are her husband and 17-year-old daughter.
The FDA decision means her 13-year-old son soon could be eligible, leaving only her 11-year-old son unvaccinated. The family has not yet resumed going to church, and summer vacation will be a road trip so they do not have to get on a plane.
Read: Vexed over vaccines
“We can’t really go back to normal because two-fifths of our family don’t have protection,” Vittitoe said.
President Joe Biden said Monday’s decision marked another important step in the nation’s march back to regular life.
“The light at the end of the tunnel is growing, and today it got a little brighter,” Biden said in a statement.
Pfizer is not the only company seeking to lower the age limit for its vaccine. Moderna recently said preliminary results from its study in 12- to 17-year-olds show strong protection and no serious side effects. Another U.S. company, Novavax, has a COVID-19 vaccine in late-stage development and just began a study in 12- to 17-year-olds.
Next up is testing whether the vaccine works for even younger children. Both Pfizer and Moderna have begun U.S. studies in children ages 6 months to 11 years. Those studies explore whether babies, preschoolers and elementary-age kids will need different doses than teens and adults. Gruber said Pfizer expects its first results in the fall.
Outside of the U.S., AstraZeneca is studying its vaccine among 6- to 17-year-olds in Britain. And in China, Sinovac recently announced that it has submitted preliminary data to Chinese regulators showing its vaccine is safe in children as young as 3.
Children are far less likely than adults to get seriously ill from COVID-19, yet they represent nearly 14% of the nation’s coronavirus cases. At least 296 have died from COVID-19 in the U.S. alone, and more than 15,000 have been hospitalized, according to a tally by the American Academy of Pediatrics.
That’s not counting the toll of family members becoming ill or dying -- or the disruption to school, sports and other activities so crucial to children’s overall well-being.
The AAP welcomed the FDA’s decision.
Read:Russian Vaccine Sputnik V: Things we should know to fight COVID-19
“Our youngest generations have shouldered heavy burdens over the past year, and the vaccine is a hopeful sign that they will be able to begin to experience all the activities that are so important for their health and development,” said AAP President Dr. Lee Savio Beers in a statement.
Experts say children must get the shots if the country is to vaccinate the 70% to 85% of the population necessary to reach what’s called herd immunity.
In the meantime, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says unvaccinated people — including children — should continue taking precautions such as wearing masks indoors and keeping their distance from other unvaccinated people outside of their households.
BioNTech to set up Asia-Pacific hub, vaccine plant in Singapore
German biotechnology company BioNTech SE said Monday it has chosen Singapore for its first regional hub in the Asia-Pacific region and will also set up a manufacturing facility in the city-state to produce mRNA-based vaccines.
The new mRNA plant will produce a range of novel mRNA vaccines and therapeutics for infectious diseases and cancer.
Also Read: UN health agency clears Pfizer and BioNTech vaccines
BioNTech plans to open its Singapore office and start construction of the manufacturing facility this year, with the plant expected to be operational as early as 2023.
The manufacturing facility, coming on the heels of the establishment of its U.S. headquarters last year, will help Southeast Asia speed up its response to future pandemic threats in the region.
"Having multiple nodes in our production network is an important strategic step in building out our global footprint and capabilities," said Ugur Sahin, chief executive office and co-founder of BioNTech.
"Singapore provides an excellent business climate, growing biotechnology industry and rich talent base," he said.
Singapore Trade and Industry Minister Chan Chun Sing said on his Facebook page that BioNTech's choice will "strengthen Singapore's position as a leading hub for biopharmaceutical manufacturing" and its position as a critical node within the global vaccine value chain.
Also Read:Mexico starts giving first shots of Pfizer-BioNtech vaccine
This is the third major investment in Singapore by a global pharmaceutical company following announcements by U.S. firm Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. and French pharmaceutical firm Sanofi in recent months.
In October last year, Thermo Fisher announced plans to develop a US$130 million facility in Singapore for the development and manufacture of therapies and vaccines.
Sanofi said in April this year that it plans to invest 400 million euros (US$487 million) over five years to set up a vaccine production center in Singapore to mainly supply the Asian region and complement existing manufacturing capacities in Europe and North America.
Covid-19 death toll in Bangladesh nears 12000
Bangladesh’s coronavirus fatalities are nearing another grim milestone even as deaths from the virus infection slow down.
The health authorities reported 38 more Covid-19-related deaths in 24 hours until Monday morning, bringing the total number of fatalities to 11,972.
However, the mortality rate remained static at 1.54 percent for the last four days, said a handout of the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS).
Meanwhile, 1,514 new cases were detected after testing 16,848 samples, pushing up the total case count to 7,75,027. Bangladesh has so far carried out 5,647,742 tests.
The daily infection rate rose to 8.99 percent from 8.19 percent a day ago.
Also read: Covid-19 crisis: PM Hasina reiterates firm solidarity with India
After a massive upsurge, the number of daily cases fell below 2,000 since May 1.
However, the number of tests as well as new cases has declined from May 4, according to corona.gov.bd.
According to the DGHS, 2,115 patients recovered in the past 24 hours, putting the recovery rate at 91.90%.
The country reported its first coronavirus cases on March 8 last year and the first death on the 18th of that month.
Dhaka worst-hit region
Dhaka has remained the worst-hit region in the country, recording 6,937 fatalities or 57.94% of the total deaths until now.
Fifteen of the 38 virus-related deaths recorded today are from Dhaka and 11 from Chattogram.
Indian Coronavirus strain
The first case of Indian Coronavirus strain was detected in Bangladesh on Saturday, according to the Institute of Epidemiology, Disease Control and Research (IEDCR).
It was detected in a sample test at Evercare Hospital in Dhaka and it has been published in Global Initiative on Sharing All Influenza Data (GISAID), said IEDCR's chief scientific officer ASM Alamgir.
Also read: Global Covid-19 cases near 158 million
Extended lockdown
A lockdown imposed on April 4 has been extended until May 16 as the government grapples with the coronavirus situation.
But people are still indifferent towards health guidelines and safety rules.
The government has ordered the officials of all government, semi-government autonomous and private organisations, banks and financial institutions to remain at their respective workstations during the upcoming Eid-ul-Fitr holidays.
Shops and shopping malls will remain open from 10am to 8pm maintaining health guidelines. If any kind of deviation and violation are seen, the shopping malls and shops will be closed instantly, says a Cabinet Division notification.
Inter-district transport services have remained closed while intra-district transport services were allowed to operate ensuring health guidelines. Launch and train services remain off.
But the restrictions could not deter people from travelling to their village homes ignoring health risks.
Vaccination drive
Bangladesh launched its vaccination drive on February 7 with Oxford-AstraZeneca doses purchased from India's Serum Institute.
The government signed an agreement with Serum for 30 million doses. But a record number of cases in India has made the delivery of the doses uncertain.
The administering of the first dose has remained suspended since April 26. Also, the country, the prime recipient of Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccines, has suspended the registration for Covid-19 jabs due to vaccine shortage amid a delay in the timely arrival of shipments from India.
However, DGHS DG Prof ABM Khurshid Alam assured that Bangladesh would get 2.1 million doses of vaccines within May.
Dwindling vaccine stock
The DGHS on May 5 said the stock of the Covid-19 vaccine is dwindling as there are only 1.4 million jabs left with no sign of a fresh consignment of doses from India.
DGHS spokesperson Dr Robed Amin said there will be a vaccine crisis if a fresh consignment does not arrive before the existing stock is exhausted.
Vaccine expected from China, US
Chinese Ambassador to Bangladesh Li Jiming has officially announced that 5,00,000 doses of Sinopharm Covid-19 vaccine will reach Bangladesh on May 12 as a “special gift”.
Foreign Minister Dr AK Abdul Momen has recently written to US Secretary of State Antony Blinken seeking vaccine doses for immediate and long-term needs.
The government has sought immediate release of 2-4 million doses from the US and a total of 10 to 20 million doses of vaccine for the long-term supply.
Also read: Keep up efforts to procure Covid vaccines: Standing committee on Foreign Ministry
Vaccine production
With India slapping a ban on the export of AstraZeneca vaccines made by Serum, Bangladesh is trying to get technology from Russia and China to produce their vaccines locally.
The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs on April 28 approved in principle a proposal for producing Russian and Chinese Covid-19 vaccines in Bangladesh.
The government on April 29 approved the emergency use of Sinopharm, a day after approving the emergency use of Russia's Sputnik V vaccine.
5 lakh doses of Chinese vaccine to arrive on May 12: Envoy
Chinese Ambassador to Bangladesh Li Jiming on Monday officially announced that 5 lakh doses of Sinopharm Covid-19 vaccine will reach Bangladesh on May 12 as a “special gift”.
"It's the latest outcome of China-Bangladesh anti-pandemic cooperation which again shows that our two peoples are in the same boat and we will stand with each other till the end of this battle," he said.
The Ambassador made the announcement during an interaction with the members of Diplomatic Correspondents Association, Bangladesh (DCAB) held virtually. DCAB President Pantho Rahaman and General Secretary AKM Moinuddin also spoke at the event.
Read Russian Vaccine Sputnik V: Things we should know to fight COVID-19
"China is dedicated to international vaccine cooperation," said the Chinese envoy, adding that the Sinopharm vaccine has already been recognised and used in over 50 countries and regions globally for quite some time.
“This is a new vote of confidence in China’s vaccines cast by the world. The Bangladeshi government also gave emergency use authorisation to the vaccine a week prior to the WHO’s clearance, which I believe is a far-sighted decision. It shows the faith put in China by Bangladesh, and it will surely mean a lot to our future cooperation,” he said.
According to clinical statistics provided by Sinopharm and the evaluation of the WHO, the efficacy rate of the vaccine is estimated to reach 79%, all age groups included.
Also read: Decision on China vaccine after consulting advisory body: Health Minister
Ambassador Li said the vaccine is recommended for adults aged 18 and older, and WHO did not indicate any upper age limit for use as data suggests that the vaccine is likely to have a protective effect in elder persons.
“It is also the first vaccine carrying a vial monitor, a small sticker on the vaccine vials that changes colour with the exposure to heat, thus warning health professionals if any doses go bad,” he said.
As the Covid-19 is still wreaking a havoc on people’s lives and disturbing social and economic activities in Bangladesh, the 500 thousand doses of vaccine are arriving just in time. It is the latest outcome of China-Bangladesh anti-pandemic cooperation.
The World Health Organization (WHO) has listed the Sinopharm Covid-19 vaccine for emergency use, giving the green light for this vaccine to be rolled out globally.
The Sinopharm vaccine is produced by Beijing Bio-Institute of Biological Products Co Ltd, subsidiary of China National Biotec Group (CNBG).
Bangladesh has kept up its intensified efforts to get Oxford-AstraZeneca and China's Sinopharm Covid-19 vaccines from India, China and the United States.
The Chinese Ambassador said China proposed providing the vaccine doses as a gift on February 3 and the government of Bangladesh took three months to approve it.
He said there is a high demand of Chinese vaccines and it will take time to get vaccines through commercial purchase.
The Ambassador said Bangladesh proposed getting Chinese vaccines through commercial purchase on April 30 and Bangladesh could have got those much earlier if the decision had been taken timely.
He laid emphasis on quick and effective decisions by the government of Bangladesh on issues like vaccines.
Earlier, Foreign Minister Dr AK Abdul Momen on Saturday said there is nothing to be worried about the availability of vaccines noting that the government will have enough vaccines soon from alternative sources.
“I believe we'll have enough vaccines. No person should be worried about it. Vaccines will come timely and all will get it,” he said in a video message shared on his verified Facebook page.
The Foreign Minister said Bangladesh is much ahead of many countries in the world in procuring vaccines and launching vaccination drives across the country.
Also read: UN chief urges all to act collectively to recover from COVID-19 ...
Russian Vaccine Sputnik V: Things we should know to fight COVID-19
The vaccine development for the COVID-19 has been moving at a record speed around the world. However, some companies have already seen success in less than a year. While some of the first world countries developed COVID vaccines, Russian did not lag behind. Therefore, the whole world was surprised when President Vladimir Putin approved the country’s first domestically developed vaccine Sputnik V in August 2020. Though many countries around the world were confused about the efficacy of Russian Vaccine Sputnik V, now 59 countries in the world approved this Coronavirus vaccine. Here we addressed some frequently asked questions about Sputnik V.
What is Sputnik V?
Sputnik V is Russia’s first approved COVID-19 vaccine. This vaccine entered limelight when Putin publicly approved it and stunned about the other countries who were still working to develop their vaccines.
Who invented this?
It was entirely developed and produced by the Gamaleya National Center of Epidemiology and Microbiology in Moscow, a Russian medical research institute, and operated under the purview of the Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation. Sputnik V was funded by the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF), which is widely known as Russia’s sovereign wealth fund.
Read How to strengthen your immune system to prevent COVID-19 infections?
What are the basics of Sputnik V?
Sputnik V was developed based on the common idea. Gamaleya researchers used the commonly known viruses that cause colds as their vaccine prototype. Subsequently, they worked with the coronavirus spike protein gene and added two separate adenovirus vectors in it, such as rAd5 and rAd26. Further, the researchers engineered them to invade cells without replication.
What is the working procedure of Sputnik V?
Sputnik V works in six easy steps. In the first step, it is injected into a person’s arm. After that, the adenoviruses vector gets into the cells and can create a bar of proteins on the cells’ surface. The cell then put the virus in a bubble and then an adenovirus moves towards the nucleus. Next, adenovirus inserts its DNA in the nucleus, and adenovirus makes copies of itself. Further, the cells can read the coronavirus spike protein gene and copy it into a molecule “called messenger RNA or mRNA.”
In the second step, mRNA leaves the nucleus and starts working on building spike proteins. The immune system recognizes the spike proteins. Afterward, the adenovirus excites the current immune system and switches them to the cell’s alarm system. Through the alarm system, Sputnik V makes the immune system respond strongly against the spike proteins.
Also read: What does it feel like to get COVID-19 after taking the vaccine?
In the third step, the system tries to spot the intruder. “When a vaccinated cell dies, the debris contains spike proteins and protein fragments.” Whenever such fragments are identified, a special kind of immune cell termed as, antigen-presenting cell absorbs those protein fragments.
In the fourth step, the process of creating antibodies works. Different immune cells named B cell may come across with the coronavirus spikes and lock the spike proteins. The B cells are then triggered through help from helper T cells and pour out antibodies.
Now the antibodies can work against the coronavirus spikes and work towards the destruction. Eventually, the antibody blocks the COVID-19 spikes and prevents infections.
Read Safe Lifestyle in COVID-19 Lockdown: Do's, Don'ts, and Precautions
If there is an infected cell in the body, the antigen-presenting cell calls an immune cell called a killer T cell to destroy any coronavirus cells.
How many doses of Sputnik V are needed?
Two doses of Sputnik V are enough to create the antibodies and fight the virus. However, the doses need to take 21 days apart, and both doses use the same procedure.
How many versions of Sputnik are available?
After the success of the Sputnik V vaccine, the researchers worked harder to find out a more effective vaccination program. Nevertheless, they came up with a newer version of the vaccine, which is called ‘Sputnik Light,’ which is a single shot vaccine and claimed 79% effectiveness.
How effective and safe is Sputnik V?
According to the interim results’ data, Sputnik V has a 91.6% success rate. Besides, the data also shows that the vaccine does not have any significant side effects and it is totally safe. However, some mild side effects were reported, which was normal compared to the other available vaccines in the world.
Read Can you mix-and-match COVID-19 vaccines?
How much is Sputnik V?
Initially, the price is set at $10 internationally. However, Russia has already approved many countries of the world to manufacture the Sputnik V vaccine remotely. Hence, the price may fall in the future. The Sputnik Light may cost less than $10.
What is the storage procedure of this vaccine?
Sputnik V needs to store at 2-8 degrees Celsius. Therefore, it is safe to transport and stored in any region of the world. Besides, it also comes in freeze-dried powder which makes it easier to store.
How many countries approved Sputnik V?
Russia has gone beyond the border to promote its invention. According to the latest data, minimum of 60 countries have approved the Russian Coronavirus Vaccine Sputnik V. What is more? This vaccine is ready to serve around 3 billion people globally, which is nearly 40% of the worldwide population. Indian, Bangladesh, Italy, China, UAE are among the 60 countries.
Read New Covid strains won’t impact the efficiency of Russian vaccines, expert claims
Does Sputnik V work against mutant variants?
As soon as the new mutants emerged, Gamaleya’s researchers started working on that. A trial testing against the new mutants shows that the vaccine produces a strong result. However, it is not much effective against the South African variants but still works better than other vaccines.
How is Russian Vaccine Sputnik V different from the other COVID-19 vaccines?
Currently, there are at least eight COVID-19 vaccines available across the world. However, Russian COVID-19 Vaccine Sputnik V appears to be comparatively cheaper than other vaccines. Besides, the efficiency is relatively higher than other Covid vaccines. The newest Sputnik Light will certainly reduce the vaccination time length worldwide.
Read The Latest: Sri Lanka receives 1st batch of Sputnik V shots
Vaccine deserts: Some countries have no COVID-19 jabs at all
At the small hospital where Dr. Oumaima Djarma works in Chad’s capital, there are no debates over which coronavirus vaccine is the best.
There are simply no vaccines at all.
Not even for the doctors and nurses like her, who care for COVID-19 patients in Chad, one of the least-developed nations in the world where about one third of the country is engulfed by the Sahara desert.
Also read:New Covid strains won’t impact efficiency of Russian vaccines, expert claims
“I find it unfair and unjust, and it is something that saddens me,” the 33-year-old infectious diseases doctor says. “I don’t even have that choice. The first vaccine that comes along that has authorization, I will take it.”
While wealthier nations have stockpiled vaccines for their citizens, many poorer countries are still scrambling to secure doses. A few, like Chad, have yet to receive any.
The World Health Organization says nearly a dozen countries — many of them in Africa — are still waiting to get vaccines. Those last in line on the continent along with Chad are Burkina Faso, Burundi, Eritrea and Tanzania.
“Delays and shortages of vaccine supplies are driving African countries to slip further behind the rest of the world in the COVID-19 vaccine rollout and the continent now accounts for only 1% of the vaccines administered worldwide,” WHO warned Thursday.
And in places where there are no vaccines, there’s also the chance that new and concerning variants could emerge, said Gian Gandhi, UNICEF’s COVAX coordinator for Supply Division.
“So we should all be concerned about any lack of coverage anywhere in the world,” Gandhi said, urging higher-income countries to donate doses to the nations that are still waiting.
While the total of confirmed COVID-19 cases among them is relatively low compared with the world’s hot spots, health officials say that figure is likely a vast undercount: The countries in Africa still waiting for vaccines are among those least equipped to track infections because of their fragile health care systems.
Chad has confirmed only 170 deaths since the pandemic began, but efforts to stop the virus entirely here have been elusive. Although the capital’s international airport was closed briefly last year, its first case came via someone who crossed one of Chad’s porous land borders illegally.
Regular flights from Paris and elsewhere have resumed, heightening the chance of increasing the 4,835 already confirmed cases.
The Farcha provincial hospital in N’Djamena is a gleaming new campus in an outlying neighborhood, where camels nibble from acacia trees nearby. Doctors Without Borders has helped supply oxygen for COVID-19 patients, and the hospital has 13 ventilators. The physicians also have plenty of Chinese-made KN95 masks and hand sanitizer. Still, not a single employee has been vaccinated and none has been told when that might be possible.
That was easier to accept at the beginning of the pandemic, Djarma said, because doctors all around the world lacked vaccines. That has changed dramatically after the development of shots in the West and by China and Russia that have gone to other poor African countries.
Also Read:Doctors in Nepal warn of major crisis as virus cases surge
“When I hear, for example, in some countries that they’ve finished with medical staff and the elderly and are now moving on to other categories, honestly, it saddens me,” Djarma said. “I ask them if they can provide us with these vaccines to at least protect the health workers.
“Everyone dies from this disease, rich or poor,” she says. “Everyone must have the opportunity, the chance to be vaccinated, especially those who are most exposed.”
COVAX, the U.N.-backed program to ship COVID-19 vaccines worldwide, is aimed at helping low- and middle-income countries get access. A few of the countries, though, including Chad, have expressed concerns about receiving the AstraZeneca vaccine through COVAX for fear it might not protect as well against a variant first seen in South Africa.
Chad is expected to get some Pfizer doses next month if it can put in place the cold storage facilities needed to keep that vaccine safe in a country where temperatures soar each day to 43.5 degrees Celsius (110 degrees Fahrenheit).
Some of the last countries also took more time to meet the requirements for receiving doses, including signing indemnity waivers with manufacturers and having distribution plans in place.
Those delays, though, now mean an even longer wait for places like Burkina Faso, since a key vaccine manufacturer in India scaled back its global supply because of the catastrophic virus surge there.
“Now with global vaccine supply shortages, stemming in particular from the surge of cases in India and subsequently the Indian government’s sequestration of doses from manufacturers there, Burkina Faso risks even longer delays in receiving the doses it was slated to get,” said Donald Brooks, CEO of a U.S. aid group engaged in the COVID-19 response there known as Initiative: Eau.
Front-line health workers in Burkina Faso say they’re not sure why the government hasn’t secured vaccines.
“We would have liked to have had it like other colleagues around the world,” says Chivanot Afavi, a supervising nurse who worked on the front lines of the response until recently. “No one really knows what this disease will do to us in the future.”
In Haiti, not a single vaccine has been administered to the more than 11 million people who live in the most impoverished country of the Western hemisphere.
Haiti was slated to receive 756,000 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine via COVAX, but government officials said they didn’t have the infrastructure needed to conserve them and worried about having to throw them away. Haitian officials also expressed concerns over potential side effects and said they preferred a single-dose vaccine.
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Several small island nations in the Pacific also have yet to receive any vaccine, although the lack of outbreaks in some of those places has meant there is less urgency with inoculation campaigns. Vanuatu, with a population of 300,000, is waiting to receive its first doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine later this month, but it has recorded only three cases of coronavirus, all of them in quarantine.
At the Farcha hospital in Chad, nine health care workers have gotten the virus, including Dr. Mahamat Yaya Kichine, a cardiologist. The hospital now has set up pods of health care worker teams to minimize the risk of exposure for the entire staff.
“It took almost 14 days for me to be cured,” Kichine says. “There were a lot of caregivers that were infected, so I think that if there is a possibility to make a vaccine available, it will really ease us in our work.”
EU says US stand on patent virus waiver is no ‘magic bullet’
European Union leaders cranked up their criticism of the U.S. call to waive COVID-19 vaccine patents Saturday, arguing the move would yield no short-term or intermediate improvement in vaccine supplies and could even have a negative impact.
On the second day of an EU summit in Portugal, the European leaders instead urged Washington to lift export restrictions if it wants to have a global impact on the pandemic.
“We don’t think, in the short term, that it’s the magic bullet,” European Council President Charles Michel said. French President Emmanuel Macron insisted that giving any priority now to a discussion of intellectual property rights “is a false debate.”
Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany, home to many Big Pharma companies, went the farthest of all, cautioning that relaxing patent rules could harm efforts to adapt vaccines as the coronavirus mutates.
“I see more risks than opportunities,” Merkel said. “I don’t believe that releasing patents is the solution to provide vaccines for more people.”
Instead, the leaders joined previous EU calls for U.S. President Joe Biden to start boosting U.S. vaccine exports as a way to contain the global COVID-19 crisis, insisting that move was the most urgent need.
“I’m very clearly urging the U.S. to put an end to the ban on exports of vaccines and on components of vaccines that are preventing them being produced,” Macron said.
He mentioned the German company CureVac, saying it could not produce a vaccine in Europe because the necessary components were blocked in the United States. Hundreds of components can go into a vaccine.
Merkel said she hoped that “now that large parts of the American population have been vaccinated, there will be a free exchange of (vaccine) ingredients.”
“Europe has always exported a large part of its European (vaccine) production to the world, and that should become the rule,” the longtime German leader said.
While the U.S. has kept a tight lid on exports of American-made vaccines so it can inoculate its own population first, the EU has become the world’s leading provider, allowing about as many doses to go outside the 27-nation bloc as are kept for its 446 million inhabitants.
The EU has distributed about 200 million doses within the bloc while about the same amount has been exported abroad to almost 90 countries. Former EU member Britain has acted similarly to the U.S.,
“First of all, you must open up,” Macron said in addressing the United States. “First of all, the Anglo-Saxons must stop their bans on exports.”
The EU is trying to regain the diplomatic initiative on vaccines after Biden put it on the back foot with his surprising endorsement of lifting patent protections on COVID-19 vaccines, seeking to solve the problem of getting shots into the arms of people in poorer countries.
Macron and other EU leaders have insisted that production capacity first must be ramped up by reconverting factories so they can quickly start producing vaccines through a transfer of technology.
“Today, there is not a factory in the world that cannot produce doses for poor countries because of a patent issue,” Macron said.
Developed nations should also increase vaccine donations to poorer countries, the EU leaders say in arguing that talking about patent waivers alone won’t cut it.
“We are willing to go into that discussion, but then we need a real 360-degree view on it,” European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said.