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According to the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare on Saturday, India recorded 21,411 new COVID cases in the past 24 hours, with a daily case positive rate of 4.46 percent.

The country’s active caseload is at 1,50,100, accounting for 0.34 percent of total cases. The Ministry reports that 20,726 COVID patients had recovered in the previous 24 hours. The overall number of recovered illness patients in the country has risen to 4,31,92,379. The current recovery rate is 98.46 percent.

During this time, 67 individuals died as a result of the virus, bringing the total death toll to 5,25,997.

There were 4,80,202 COVID samples examined. The weekly optimism rate has already reached 4.46 percent.

In the previous 24 hours, 34,93,209 COVID doses were provided as part of the country’s statewide immunisation effort. The total number of vaccination injections administered in the country were 2,01,68,14,771, with 92.90 crore being the second dosage and 6.93 crore being the precaution dose.

India has “made history again,” Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Sunday, referring to the country’s achievement of giving two billion vaccination shots in just 18 months.

PM Modi congratulated all Indians on reaching the “unique milestone,” saying he is “proud of everyone who helped to making India’s immunisation effort unprecedented in scope and speed.” He went on to say that it has “strengthened the global struggle against COVID-19.”

Also read: Protective T cells remain 20 months after COVID-19: Study

“India makes history once more! Congratulations to all Indians on reaching the milestone of 200 crore vaccination doses. Proud of all who helped make India’s immunisation effort unprecedented in volume and speed. This has bolstered the international battle against COVID-19 “PM Modi stated on Twitter.

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The Union Health Ministry said on Wednesday that over 193.53 crore vaccine doses have been distributed to states and union territories as part of the countrywide COVID-19 immunisation programme.

“More than 193.53 crore (1,93,53,58,865) vaccine doses have been delivered to States and UTs so far through Government of India (free of cost channel) and direct state procurement category,” according to the health ministry. According to the health ministry, more than 13.40 crore (13,40,04,935) balance and unutilized COVID-19 vaccine doses are still available for distribution to states and UTs.

The Union Government is dedicated to speeding up and broadening the scope of COVID-19 immunisation across the country. The countrywide COVID-19 immunisation campaign began on january 16, 2021.

The next phase of COVID-19 vaccine universalization began on June 21, 2021. The immunisation campaign has been stepped up with the availability of additional vaccinations, advance awareness of vaccine availability to states and UTs for improved planning, and simplification of the vaccine supply chain.

Also Read: With 8,822 new infections, India’s daily COVID total reaches new high

As part of the countrywide immunisation campaign, the Government of India has been supplying free COVID-19 vaccinations to states and union territories. In the next phase of the COVID-19 immunisation programme, the Union Government would acquire and deliver (at no cost) to States and UTs 75% of the vaccines manufactured in the country by vaccine makers.

According to the Union Health Ministry, India saw a significant increase in daily COVID-19 cases on Wednesday, with the country reporting 8,822 new infections in the previous 24 hours. On Tuesday, the nation recorded 6,594 new infections, an 18% decrease from Monday’s total of 8,084 COVID-19 cases.

With the addition of these new cases today, the active caseload in India has risen to 53,637, accounting for 0.12% of the entire caseload, according to the ministry.

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The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare reported 2,841 new COVID-19 cases in India in the previous 24 hours on Friday.

With this, India’s daily COVID case count fell below 3000 for the fourth day in a row. The country’s active caseload now stands at 18,604, accounting for 0.04 percent of all positive cases in India.

The daily positive rate of COVID in India is 0.58 percent, while the weekly positivity rate is 0.69 percent.

In the previous 24 hours, 3,295 people have recovered, bringing the total number of recovered patients since the start of the pandemic to 4,25,73,460.

According to the government, the national COVID-19 recovery rate is 98.74 percent.

Across the previous 24 hours, 4,86,628 COVID-19 tests were administered, bringing the total number of tests administered in the country to more than 84.29 crore (84,29,44,795).

According to preliminary data, India’s COVID-19 immunisation coverage has surpassed 190.99 crore (1,90,99,44,803) as of 7 a.m. today. This was accomplished through 2,381,51,277 sessions.

COVID-19 immunisation for children aged 12 to 14 years old began on March 16, 2022. More than 3.12 crore (3.12,97,391) adolescents have received the first dose of the COVID-19 vaccination so far.

a new study Many experts reported sighting during the peak of the Omicron surge throughout the winter, and Trusted Source backs them up. To fully protect persons from the current dominant strain, booster vaccine doses of the two mRNA vaccines — Pfizer and Moderna — were required. Because of the importance of the protection, some experts want the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to modify the present definition of “completely vaccinated.”

This comes as a result of greater investigation. The majority of negative effects from the roughly 300 million mRNA COVID-19 vaccine doses provided during the first six months of availability, according to Trusted Source, were minimal and dissipated within a few days. The same study backs up those who claimed that the second dose of an mRNA vaccine caused short-term but notable side effects such as body aches, fever, and other flu-like symptoms.

An examination of efficiency
The vaccine effectiveness study, which was published in the British Medical Journal, also sheds light on immunisation schedules as the virus that causes COVID-19 continues to mutate and build new defences around vaccines.

Between March 2021 and January 2022, researchers from leading colleges and medical institutions across the United States examined the data of over 12,000 adult patients admitted to 21 hospitals. More than 5,700 of the patients tested positive for COVID-19.

The researchers looked at how well the Alpha, Delta, and Omicron forms of the vaccination performed.In mid-January, weeks after the customary end-of-the-year holiday season, the Omicron surge peaked at around 807,000 new cases every day. Winter weather and gathering indoors offered a chance for the extremely contagious omicron form to run rampant, particularly among the unvaccinated, in the United States and the rest of the Northern Hemisphere.

Researchers discovered that two doses of an mRNA vaccine provided someone a 65 percent chance of not needing to be hospitalised for COVID-19 symptoms during the Omicron wave, using a WHO scale to evaluate how unwell a person develops in the hospital.

Furthermore, three doses provided them an 85% chance against the Alpha and Delta versions, which was the same as two doses gave them against the Alpha and Delta varieties.

Despite the fact that the trial was observational, which means it couldn’t prove cause and effect, the researchers found that mRNA vaccinations “were linked with substantial protection against hospital admissions with COVID-19 attributable to the Alpha, Delta, and Omicron variants.”

A booster dose is also “essential for protecting populations against COVID-19-associated morbidity and mortality,” according to the researchers.

According to the researchers, studies like theirs that evaluate vaccination effectiveness, as well as surveillance programmes that uncover new variants, will be required as the novel coronavirus evolves.

Experts offer their opinions.
The study was conducted in “a practically real-world scenario,” according to Jagdish Khubchandani, PhD, a professor of public health science at New Mexico State University, and confirms what the world experienced during the Omicron rise this winter. In general, he said, the Omicron variety is less lethal than the preceding variants, but Omicron’s two doses aren’t as effective as Alpha and Delta’s.

“So, boosters appear to be an appropriate technique,” Khubchandani told Healthline. “My guess is that if we have more variations in the future, higher dosages may be required.” “It’s also likely that by the time the Omicron variety went viral, protection in people who had been vaccinated earlier in the rollout had waned, necessitating a booster dose.”

While any clinical research contains flaws, the ones in the BMJ study, according to Khubchandani, are “quite small.”

“The mRNA vaccines obviously provide protection against serious infection, hospitalisation, and mortality, even to various degrees,” he stated.

Dr. David M. Cutler, a family medicine physician at Providence Saint John’s Health Center in Santa Monica, California, believes that the COVID-19 vaccines are now without a doubt effective in preventing sickness, hospitalisation, and death.

However, he said that it’s “really sad” that a third dose — or second, in the case of the non-mRNA Johnson & Johnson shot — is still referred to as a “booster” dose.

“This word connotes something additional or unimportant, whereas in fact it is critical in averting sickness, hospitalisation, and mortality,” Cutler told Healthline. “Unfortunately, the CDC definition of ‘fully vaccinated’ still entails only two mRNA vaccinations and one J&J vaccine. This and other studies have shown that receiving a booster is the only way to receive full protection.”

One crucial element missing from the current research, according to Dr. Fady Youssef, a pulmonologist, internist, and critical care specialist at MemorialCare Long Beach Medical Center in California, is individuals with no or mild symptoms who were not hospitalised.

He told Healthline, “That’s a crucial aspect to account for, given that Omicron was more transmissible but resulted in fewer hospitalizations.”

The findings further confirms Youssef’s claim that mRNA vaccinations provide “substantial protection” against severe and critical COVID-19 sickness and mortality, according to Youssef.