WHO backed China for emergency use of COVID-19 experimental vaccines as early as in June
Zheng Zhongwei, head of medical science development at the National Health Commission, told reporters here that the World Health Organisation gave its support to China for its emergency use of vaccines in late June, Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post reported.
According to Zheng, the commission proposed the emergency use of the vaccines in mid-June to protect people in high-risk occupations such as frontline health workers, border officials and overseas workers.
The vaccines still had to complete phase 3 of the clinical trials but the State Council approved the proposal on June 24.
After the approval, on June 29, we had a communication meeting with the relevant representatives of the WHO office in China, and obtained understanding and support from the WHO, Post quoted Zheng as saying.
He said that the approval strictly abided by China's vaccine and pharmaceutical laws and used the WHO standards as a guide, adding that there were "no severe adverse events" from the injections.
The WHO faced stringent criticism especially from US President Donald Trump who accused it of being a puppet of China for not acting in time to halt the spread of the COVID-19 when it broke out in the Chinese city of Wuhan in December last year. Trump has also pulled the US out of the WHO.
In his address to the UN General Assembly on September 23, Trump also attacked the WHO, saying it is virtually controlled by China .
Last week, Yang Xiaoming, Chairman of China National Biotec Group, which had obtained approval to start the phase 3 trials for its coronavirus vaccine candidates in the UAE, said 350,000 people had been injected with the experimental vaccines under the scheme.
Yang Sheng, Deputy director of the National Medical Products Administration's drug registration bureau, said that four China-developed COVID-19 vaccines have begun the final stage of human trials overseas after obtaining approval from the foreign authorities.
China has been focusing on developing five types of vaccines and each method has at least one entering clinical trials. In total, 11 vaccine candidates are in different stages of testing, Yang was quoted as saying by state-run China Daily.
Zheng said China's annual capacity to make COVID-19 vaccines was expected to reach 610 million doses this year and 1 billion doses by 2021. He offered no details on how the doses would be distributed.
Facing global adversity over the mass spread of the coronavirus, China plans to have diplomatic offensive, offering its vaccines specially to a number of smaller countries at affordable costs.
China did not join the COVID-19 Vaccine Global Access (Covax) alliance to ensure equitable access to COVID-19 vaccines.
Zheng said China had been a supporter of Covax.
Chinese representatives recently held a videoconference with the WHO, Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance and the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations which together founded Covax on vaccine production and development.
We communicated in full detail about vaccine development, production and distribution. We will continue the close communication with these organisations to promote COVID-19 vaccines to become a global public good, Zheng said.
He said China would set an affordable price for vaccines for the public, with higher priority given to essential workers such as couriers and people handling frozen food, then people at high risk of COVID-19, including children, pregnant women and the elderly.
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Karnataka Cabinet to meet again to discuss SC internal reservation during recruitment
Bengaluru (PTI): The Karnataka Cabinet has decided to meet again to discuss the issue of providing internal reservation among Scheduled Castes for direct recruitment in the government sector, as deliberations on the matter remained incomplete.
While no specific date for the next meeting has been announced, Law and Parliamentary Affairs Minister H K Patil told reporters it would be held "at the earliest" and reiterated the government's commitment to the issue.
The issue came up for discussion at the Cabinet meeting on Thursday, amid reports of rifts between SC(Right) and SC (Left) factions within the ruling Congress over providing internal reservation in the recruitment to 56,432 vacant posts.
"The government is committed to providing internal reservation. We will meet again for further discussion. The chief minister will decide when to meet at the earliest. It will be a Cabinet meeting and will be held as early as possible," Patil said.
He said, "We had a detailed discussion on this matter for some time, but it was incomplete because many ministers are yet to speak on this. The order already issued (for filling up vacancies) will not be disturbed, and about other things, we will discuss in the next meeting."
The state government decided to conduct recruitment for 56,432 vacant jobs based on the reservation order in force before December 28, 2022, (15 per cent for SCs and 3 per cent for STs), due to the stay on the enhanced quota and internal reservation, while continuing to pursue its case in court.
The previous BJP government had increased the reservation quota for SCs from 15 per cent to 17 per cent and for Scheduled Tribes from 3 per cent to 7 per cent, raising the state's total reservation to 56 per cent, exceeding the Supreme Court-mandated 50 per cent ceiling.
While this matter is still in court, the Congress government decided to provide internal reservation by slicing up the 17 per cent reservation matrix given to 101 scheduled castes, under three groups, with a formula of six, six, and five per cent respectively.
According to sources, the SC(Left)/Madiga community, which has fought for internal reservation for decades, opposes recruitment for 56,432 jobs without providing internal reservation.
The SC (Right)/Holeya community, however, favoured recruitment without providing internal reservation.
At the meeting, the Cabinet gave administrative approval for Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation to purchase 144 'BS-VI' urban transport diesel buses at an estimated cost of Rs 62 crores.
It also granted administrative approval for the purchase of hardware and software for implementing ICJS (Inter-operable Criminal Justice System) and IT services in the state under the Police Modernisation Project at an estimated cost of Rs 227.58 crores.
The Cabinet also asked the health minister to speak with officers, doctors and other staffers appointed on a permanent, contract, temporary, or outsourced basis in the health department, who have threatened to go on strike over their various demands.
Approval was also given for amendments to certain sections of the Karnataka Municipalities Act, 1964, and the Karnataka Municipal Corporations Act, 1976, regarding advertisement charges under local bodies.
