
Judges of the Supreme Court will get COVID-19 vaccine shots from tomorrow. They can choose which vaccine they want- Bharat Biotech’s Covaxin or Serum Institute of India’s Covishield. Those eligible for the vaccine in the drive starting tomorrow also includes the families of the judges and retired judges. The Supreme Court registry has arranged a vaccination facility at the court complex.
The judges and their families have an option of getting the jabs at the Supreme Court complex or any hospital listed by the government. Those in the know of the development added that the Supreme Court registry has arranged a vaccination facility on the premises in addition to the ones at the government hospitals listed for the vaccination. The cost of vaccination will be as per the Central government’s guidelines, they added. Private hospitals can charge up to ₹250 per shot. Today marked the second push of India’s massive vaccination drive. Those above 60 and those who are 45 and above with critical illnesses are getting inoculated now.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi was also inoculated with the first dose of the home-grown Covaxin today. India, which has reported the highest number of COVID-19 cases in the world after the United States, has so far vaccinated more than 12 million health and frontline workers.
India’s count of active cases has jumped to 170,293. On Sunday, the country registered 15,616 fresh Covid-19 cases, taking its caseload tally to 11,112,056. India continues to be second-most-affected globally and ranks 13th among worst-hit nations by active cases. The five most affected states by total cases are Maharashtra (2,155,070), Kerala (1,059,403), Karnataka (951,251), Andhra Pradesh (889,916), and Tamil Nadu (851,542).
Germany’s vaccine committee on Thursday recommended that AstraZeneca’s Covid-19 vaccine should only be given to people aged under 65, triggering concern among public health experts in India overuse of Serum Institute of India’s vaccine in older age groups. The Standing Vaccine Commission, Germany’s main public health agency, recommended that the AstraZeneca-Oxford vaccine only be used for people aged 18 and 64 years, citing “insufficient data currently available to ascertain how effective the vaccination is above 65 years”, according to a report in Financial Times.