The Indian Panorama

Tag: Johnson & Johnson

  • FDA extends the shelf life of single-shot J&J vaccine

    FDA extends the shelf life of single-shot J&J vaccine

    Johnson & Johnson said on Thursday the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has extended the shelf life of its single-shot COVID-19 vaccine from three months to four-and-a-half months, as millions of unused doses nationwide near expiration.

    Safety concerns about J&J’s shot and flagging demand for vaccinations have left close to half of the 21 million doses the company has produced for the United States sitting unused.

    The health regulator’s decision was based on data from ongoing studies, which demonstrated that the vaccine is stable at 4.5 months when refrigerated at temperatures of 36 to 46 degrees Fahrenheit (2 to 8 degrees Celsius), the drugmaker said.

    Reuters reported on Monday that at least 13 lots of J&J shots have expiration dates of June 27 or earlier. It is not clear how many doses that reflects. J&J has another 100 million doses on hand but shipment timing is uncertain.

    A top White House official on Tuesday urged state governors to work with the FDA to extend the shelf life of J&J’s COVID-19 vaccine. J&J said vaccine providers should visit its website to check expiration dates of vaccines currently available in the country.

    Source: Reuters

  • India’s daily Covid-19 cases fall to 186,364; death toll reaches 318,895

    India’s daily Covid-19 cases fall to 186,364; death toll reaches 318,895

    New Delhi (TIP): India recorded 186,364 fresh cases of Covid-19 on Friday May 28, lowest in last 44 days since the March last year. The death toll was increased to 315,235 as 3,660 people succumbed to the viral disease over the last 24 hours, according to the Union health ministry’s dashboard on Friday, May 28. After Friday’s additions, the overall nationwide tally now stands at 27,555,457. For the fifteenth consecutive day, recoveries continued to outnumber the daily new cases as 259,459 people were recuperated from Covid-19 over the last 24 hours, it also showed. The recovery rate has increased to 90.34 per cent, while the weekly positivity rate currently at 10.42 per cent, as per the health ministry figures. The number of active cases has dropped to 2,343,152. On August 7 last year, India’s Covid-19 tally crossed the 20 lakh mark. It breached the 30 lakh on August 23, 40 lakh on September 5 and 50 lakh on September 16. It went past 60 lakh on September 28, 70 lakh on October 11, crossed 80 lakh on October 29, 90 lakh on November 20 and surpassed the one-crore mark on December 19 last year. India crossed the grim milestone of 20 million infections on May 4 this year. The second Covid-19 wave in India is now on the “downswing,” the Centre said on Thursday, highlighting that the current number of active cases is still “very high” and advised states and Union territories (UTs) to not let down their guards.The Centre also stressed that any relaxation of curbs by the states and the union territories(UTs) may be considered at an appropriate time in a graded manner. In a fresh directive from the Union ministry of home affairs, the Centre directed the states and UTs to continue the ongoing Covid-19 guidelines till June 30. It also asked them to go for intensive and local containment measures in districts with a high number of cases to check the spread of disease. Meanwhile, India is considering Pfizer’s request to grant it indemnity from costs relating to severe vaccine side-effects, adding that the company had signalled the availability of its Covid-19 shot, possibly from July. “We are engaged with Pfizer because they have indicated availability of … certain volume of vaccines, in the coming months, possibly starting in July,” V K Paul said in a press briefing. The government is also in discussions with Johnson & Johnson and Moderna. Centre scrapped local trials for “well-established” foreign vaccines on to fast-track imports after the country faced a severe shortage of vaccines leading to many states halting vaccination drive for people in the age group of 18-44. The cumulative number of Covid-19 vaccine doses is 205,451,902, according to the provisional report by the health ministry on Thursday.      Source: HT

  • Over 200 mn Covid shots administered in US

    Over 200 mn Covid shots administered in US

    Washington (TIP): More than 200 million shots of Covid-19 vaccines have been administered in the United States, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

    US President Joe Biden also announced on Wednesday, April 21,  that the country has hit 200 million Covid-19 shots, a target he had set out to meet by the end of April, Xinhua news agency reported. Biden said the country is entering a new phase in its vaccination efforts as it starts to shift the focus from getting the vaccine to those most at risk to the general population.

    “The time is now to open up a new phase of this historic vaccination effort,” Biden said. “To put it simply, if you’ve been waiting for your turn, wait no longer. Now’s the time for everyone over 16 years of age to get vaccinated.”

    About 215 million Covid-19 vaccine shots have been administered by Wednesday, while more than 277 million Covid-19 vaccine doses have been distributed across the country, CDC data showed.

    Currently there are about 87 million Americans fully vaccinated, accounting for 26.4 per cent of the US population, according to CDC data. About 134 million Americans received at lease one Covid-19 shot, accounting for 40.5 per cent of the population.

    Among the fully vaccinated, 35 million are people 65 years of age or older, accounting for 65.6 per cent, CDC data showed.

    The United States has been ramping up vaccine rollout since last December. There are three COVID-19 vaccines authorized for emergency use in the country.

    The US Food and Drug Administration authorized the one developed by American drugmaker Pfizer in partnership with German company BioNTech, and another by American drugmaker Moderna, in December last year.

    Johnson & Johnson’s Covid-19 vaccine was approved for emergency use on February 27, but it was halted for use last week after rare blood clotting cases emerged in six recipients.