Government News

SARS-CoV-2 has affected more than 200 million people causing more than 5 million deaths worldwide as per the WHO statistics. The rise in mutant variants of SARS-CoV-2 virus has led to concerns regarding vaccine effectiveness. Delta (B.1.617.2) variant is the predominant strain in India. The vaccination programme in India is driven largely by the Covishield vaccine (ChAdOx1 nCoV-19).

The PLI Scheme for Pharmaceuticals is based on the strategy of Atmanirbhar Bharat- Strategies for enhancing Indias manufacturing capabilities and enhancing exports in ten sectors”, which had been approved by the Union Cabinet on 24.02.2021.  The Operational Guidelines for the scheme inviting applications from the pharmaceutical industry were issued on 01.06.2021 by the Department of Pharmaceuticals after intensive consultation with industry and related departments   and NITI Aayog.

In a historic achievement, the cumulative COVID-19 vaccine doses administered in the country has surpassed the 100-crore milestone. In a tweet, Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi congratulated the countrymen and expressed gratitude to the country’s scientific community and health professionals for working towards achieving this stupendous feat.

The Central Government has revoked the export ban from Covid diagnostic kits, reagents by making amendment in the export policy of diagnostic kits.

The export restriction is lifted from VTM kits and reagents, RNA extraction kits, RT PCR kits, facon tube or cryovials, swabs sterile synthetic fibre etc. It also includes Silicon columns, Carrier RNA, Proteinase K, Magnetic Stand, Beads, Probes from COVID19 testing, primers for COVID testing, Taq polymerase enzyme, COVID19 rapid antigen testing kits.

National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority is a regulatory body under the Department of Pharmaceuticals, Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers, Government of India and is committed to ensure affordability and accessibility of medicines by fixing the ceiling price for scheduled formulations and monitoring the prices of non-scheduled formulations.

Due shortage of doctors in public healthcare facilities, the Odisha government has permitted pharmacists to treat minor ailments and dispense drugs for certain diseases in hospitals.

The Department of Biotechnology (DBT), Ministry of Science & Technology, Government of India (GoI) has taken myriads of initiatives to increase investments in research & development (R&D) and manufacturing of COVID-19 Vaccines.

Department of Biotechnology, Ministry of Science and Technology, Government of India in collaboration with BRICS countries is implementing SARS-CoV-2 NGS-BRICS consortium and multi centric programme to study the impact of severe COVID-19 conditions on TB patients.

Zydus Cadila announced that the company has received the Emergency Use Authorization from the Drug Controller General of India (DCGI) for ZyCoV-D the worlds first Plasmid DNA Vaccine for COVID-19. ZyCoV-D is a three dose vaccine which will be administered first on day zero, day 28th and then on the 56th day. With this approval, India now has its first COVID-19 vaccine for the adolescents in the 12-18 age group, besides the adult population.