Indian vaccine maker Serum Institute of India (SII) has said it had to dump 100 million doses of its Covid-19 vaccine after they expired. The firm stopped producing Covishield in December last year due to low demand, CEO Adar Poonawalla said.
India has begun giving booster doses of the Covid-19 vaccine to priority groups amid a surge in infections. Health and frontline workers and people above 60 years with comorbidities are currently eligible to take the jab. The drive began as India battles a spike in Covid cases fuelled by the Omicron variant of the coronavirus.
The World Health Organization, which co-leads COVAX, on Monday called on vaccine makers outside India to advance supplies to the programme given the shortfall from the South Asian country.
The World Health Organization, which co-leads COVAX, on Monday called on vaccine makers outside India to advance supplies to the programme given the shortfall from the South Asian country.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi took his second dose of COVID-19 vaccine at All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), Delhi on Thursday.
"Got my second dose of the COVID-19 vaccine at AIIMS today. Vaccination is among the few ways we have, to defeat the virus. If you are eligible for the vaccine, get your shot soon," tweeted PM Modi. The two nurses who administered the vaccine to PM Modi at AIIMS, Delhi are -- P Niveda from Puducherry and Nisha Sharma from Punjab.
Prime Minister took his first dose of vaccine on March 1.
India, in a landmark achievement, has vaccinated over 9 crore Covid-19 vaccine doses till now.
PM Modi flagged off the first phase of the pan-India rollout of the COVID-19 vaccination drive on January 16.
