Healthcare workers, people aged above 65 will be given priority for COVID vaccine: Harsh Vardhan
New Delhi: Noting that it is natural to prioritise COVID-19 vaccine distribution, Health Minister Harsh Vardhan on Thursday said healthcare workers and people aged above 65 will be early recipients when a vaccine becomes available.
Addressing a webinar organised by the FICCI FLO on 'The Shifting Healthcare Paradigm During and Post-Covid', Vardhan said COVID-19 vaccine will be available in the next few months and it is estimated that by July-August 400-500 million doses will be made available for 25-30 crore people.
"It is natural the vaccine distribution would have to be prioritised. As you know the healthcare workers who are corona warriors they will be prioritised, then people who are above 65 years of age they have been prioritised, then those from 50-65 years of age have been prioritised," he said.
"Then those below 50 years who have other diseases. It is all being decided by experts with a scientific point of view. We have made a very detailed, meticulous plan on this. What we would have to do in March-April next year, we have started planning for it from now only," Vardhan added.
The minister said one can protect oneself from this deadly virus with small precautions like wearing a good quality mask properly, maintaining social distance and taking care of hand-hygiene.
India's coronavirus caseload mounted to 89,58,483 on Thursday with 45,576 infections being reported in a day, while the death toll climbed to 1,31,578 with 585 new fatalities.
The phase-3 trial of the Oxford vaccine of the Serum Institute is almost near completion, while the phase-3 clinical trial of the indigenously-developed vaccine candidate of the Bharat Biotech and the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) has already started.
Dr Reddy's Laboratories will soon start the combined phase-2 and phase-3 clinical trials of the Russian COVID-19 vaccine, Sputnik V, in India. Also, the Biological E Limited has started early phases 1 and 2 human trials of its COVID-19 vaccine candidate.
Pfizer Inc. and BioNTech SE said their vaccine candidate was found to be more than 95 per cent effective in preventing COVID-19, while Moderna on Monday said its vaccine candidate against COVID-19 found it to have an efficacy of 94.5 per cent.
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Court allows 5-day police custody of Bibhav Kumar in Swati Maliwal assault case
New Delhi (PTI): A Delhi court allowed five-day custodial interrogation of Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal's aide Bibhav Kumar in the Swati Maliwal assault case, sing the police remand was a "necessity" in the matter.
Metropolitan Magistrate Gaurav Goyal was hearing the application of Delhi Police which was represented by Additional Public Prosecutor Atul Srivastava. The police had sought seven day custody.
It is alleged that Kumar, who is Kejriwal's personal assistant, assaulted AAP MP Swati Maliwal at the CM's residence on May 13.
"Considering the submissions made on behalf of both the parties, I find there is a necessity of police custody remand in the present case. Accordingly, the application moved by the investigating officer (IO) is partly allowed and the accused is remanded to police custody for five days," the court said in its order passed around 12:45 AM Sunday.
It noted the prosecution's submissions about the need to take Kumar to Mumbai and other parts of the national capital to collect evidence, which was not possible without the accused's custody.
"Admittedly, the case is at a nascent stage. Allegations made in the FIR are corroborated in her (Maliwal's) statement recorded by the magistrate on oath and further, it is again corroborated in the medico-legal case (MLC) of the victim or complainant," the court said.
The magistrate also observed, "I am aware of the view of constitutional courts that the opportunity must be given to the investigating agency to complete the investigation in order to reach the truth of the matter but at the same time the rights of the accused are also to be protected."
Asking the Investigating Officer to take Kumar into formal custody, the court directed his medical examination every 24 hours and said the investigating agency would not subject the accused to "any torture."
It also allowed Kumar to meet his advocate and wife for half an hour each during the police custody.
Kumar's application for providing requisite medicines was also allowed.
The proceedings which commenced around 9: 15 PM Saturday saw initial arguments by Srivastava following which the magistrate said, "I find force in the arguments of the APP (Additional Public Prosecutor) that there were sufficient grounds to arrest the accused without notice."
The prosecutor made several arguments, including those mentioned in the remand application and also that the "means or weapon" by which Kumar assaulted Maliwal had to be recovered.
The vehement counter-arguments by Kumar's counsels continued for more than one-and-a-half hours. One of his counsels, Rajiv Mohan, claimed that Maliwal had lodged the FIR "belatedly after deliberation and concoction."
The Delhi Police arrested Kumar earlier on Saturday and his anticipatory bail plea was subsequently observed as becoming "infructuous" by a Delhi court.
