Reporting for this story was supported by the Pulitzer Center.
Wajid Kadar Khan, who lives in a Mumbai slum, received a COVID-19 vaccine only because his job required it. His wife, Mumtaz (left), says she didn t need one because “I have God.”
PHOTO: RAJA SENGUPTA
On a Sunday morning in early April, as Mumbai was in a daze from the first weeks of a surge of COVID-19 and had instituted nighttime curfews, Baliram Boomkar asked his neighbors in the city s Kaula Bandar slum whether they wanted a vaccine to protect them or had received one. Some replied that they had been vaccinated but only because their employers required it. One man said he d get the shot if his company gave him time off to recover from side effects. “COVID is nothing,” he said. “People are only spreading rumors. It s all a lie.” A woman said she was afraid a clinic might test her for COVID-19, find she s positive, and then force her to quarantine as happened last year. “I know I can t avoid the vaccine
NEW DELHI: Bharat Biotech is likely to get a pre-qualification approval from WHO by August.
The company has informed the government that it is currently in the process of submitting documents, particularly regarding validation of one of its manufacturing facilities. It is also submitting the documents for completion of Phase 3 trials for Covaxin to the WHO, which will be completed by the third week of June.
On Monday, foreign secretary, Harsh Shringla, along with senior officials from ministry of health and department of biotechnology met V Krishna Mohan and Sai Prasad of Bharat Biotech to discuss the progress on the EUL for WHO.
Why Is the World s Largest COVID-19 Vaccine Campaign Faltering? pulitzercenter.org - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from pulitzercenter.org Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
The world s major vaccine-producing countries are for the first time opening the door to the suspension of intellectual property rights for COVID-19 vaccines.
The first was the United States, making the announcement to coincide with the recent G7 ministers meeting in London.
In a U-turn from the Trump administration and in view of the havoc the virus is wreaking in countries such as India, the US has said it supports releasing vaccine patents.
This option has been debated for months at the World Trade Organization (WTO), pushed by countries such as South Africa and India. However, the Biden administration s backing gives a new dimension to the debate.