What is the policy framework for declaring a public holiday, asks SC

What is the policy framework for declaring a public holiday, asks SC

Dhananjay.Mahapatra@timesgroup.com

New Delhi:19.01.2021

What is the policy framework under which the Union government declares a public holiday, the Supreme Court asked on Monday after a PIL complained that the Centre and state governments arbitrarily notified public holidays mainly to appease a section of the population.

The petitioner, ‘All India Shiromani Singh Sabha’, through senior advocate Vikas Singh said while the birth anniversaries of B R Ambedkar and Prophet Muhammad have been declared as public holidays by the Union government, the birthday of Guru Gobind Singh, the 10th Sikh guru, has been arbitrarily declared merely as a restricted holiday.

A bench of Chief Justice S A Bobde and Justices L N Rao and Vineet Saran asked solicitor general Tushar Mehta to respond to the PIL.

Mehta said these were policy decisions and he would take instructions and respond to the PIL. The SC gave the Centre 10 days to file its affidavit.

The PIL petitioner said, “In the absence of any guiding principle or any authority regarding declaration of gazetted/public holidays in India, the executive at the behest of political groups, who are in power/government, declare holidays at their whims and fancies, serving the political purpose of appeasement of a particular section of the public.”

Full report on www.toi.in

‘Don’t use WhatsApp if you think it compromises data’

‘Don’t use WhatsApp if you think it compromises data’

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

New Delhi:19.01.2021

The Delhi high court on Monday pointed out that accepting the new data sharing policy of messaging app WhatsApp is “voluntary” and people can choose not to use or join the social networking platform if they do not agree with its terms and conditions.

“It is a private app. If you think data is compromised, delete it, don’t use the app. It is a voluntary thing, use some other app,” Justice Sanjeev Sachdeva remarked, while hearing a plea by a lawyer challenging the new policy which has been deferred till May following global outrage.

Justice Sachdeva told the lawyer if the terms and conditions of most mobile apps are read closely “you would be surprised as to what all you are consenting to” and cited the case of Google maps. “Even it captures all your data and stores it,” the court said.

Due to paucity of time, the HC listed the matter for next week, saying it is yet to understand what data would be leaked according to the petitioner and to decide if notice must be issued in the plea or not.

The Centre agreed and said the issue needs to be analysed even as senior advocates Kapil Sibal and Mukul Rohatgi, appearing for WhatsApp and parent company Facebook, told the court the plea is without any foundation.

“Private chats are completely encrypted. The change policy is for business WhatsApp... All social chats between friends, relatives whatever is completely encrypted,” Rohatgi said.

Full report on www.toi.in

All Covaxin recipients to be monitored for 7 days

All Covaxin recipients to be monitored for 7 days

Sunitha.Rao@timesgroup.com

Bengaluru:19.01.2021

The National Centre for Disease Informatics and Research (NCDIR), a Bengaluru-based branch of ICMR, has been identified as the nodal centre to monitor Covaxin’s Phase 3 clinical trials.

In a video conference last week, state governments were directed to call and monitor the health of all Covaxin recipients for seven days from the day of immunisation. A report on their condition must also be sent to NCDIR.

A site each in Chamarajanagar, Davanagere, Hassan, Chikkamagaluru, Shivamogga and Ballari districts have been chosen to administer Covaxin. Bharat BioTech, manufacturers of the vaccine, has said the common side effects include fever and abdominal pain, body ache, nausea and vomiting. The less common adverse effects are giddiness, tremors, cold, cough, swelling around the injection site and sweating.

Dr Prashanth Mathur, director, NCDIR, said: “We are working out modalities with the state government to avoid duplication of efforts while monitoring Covaxin beneficiaries. We are planning work distribution to ensure the vaccine recipient is not burdened with multiple calls from different agencies. Covaxin beneficiaries are part of the trials.”

Dr Mathur said no beneficiary has reported side effects so far. While beneficiaries cannot choose which vaccine to receive, those willing to take Covaxin must sign a consent form. The consent form is available in local languages and content is explained to beneficiaries.

On Saturday, the first day of immunisation, 365 of the 600 targeted beneficiaries received Covaxin in the six centres in Karnataka. However, so far, none of the recipients have received follow-up calls.

The vaccination drive did not take off in some centres on Monday due to glitches with the CoWIN portal. Vijayanagar Institute of Medical Sciences (VIMS), where only Covaxin will be administered, was among them.

Both vaccines in use have a shelf life of six months

Both vaccines in use have a shelf life of six months

Chethan.Kumar@timesgroup.com

Bengaluru:19.01.2021

The Union health ministry has said that both the Covid-19 vaccines — Covishield and Covaxin — being administered now in India have a shelf life of six months from the date of production, but, as reportedearlier by TOI, each vial must be used or discarded within four hours of being opened. The Centre had already procured morethan 16 million doses of the two vaccines.

Arundathi Chandrashekar, a mission director under the National Health Mission (NHM), said, “The expiry dates of these vaccines appear to be in line with the general shelf life for vaccines that we use under the universal immunisation programme (UIP).” This, another official said, gives the government enough time to plan and procure doses.

The Union health ministry has also laid out other guidelines that need to be followed to ascertain if the vaccine is good for use within six months. It has said both vaccines are ‘freeze sensitive’ and vials found frozen or frozen and thawed must be discarded immediately.

For Covishield — whose physical appearance is slightly opaque (colourless to slightly brown), the vials must be discarded if “solution is discoloured or visible particles are observed”, the ministry has said. Similarly, for Covaxin, whose appearance is whitish translucent, “presence of particulate matter or other coloration” are grounds for discarding.

“Given our experience of handling vaccines, we do not anticipate freezing of the vials as we have adequate infrastructure to store it at prescribedtemperatures(2°Celsiusto 8°Celsius),” Chandrashekar said.

Specific instructions for use of Covaxin read: Use of corticosteroids (a class of steroid hormones) and chloroquine (a type of medication), may impair antibody response.

The Centre has also advised vaccinators to discard all vials — a vial of Covishield contains10 doses and Covaxin 20 doses — four hours, and not six as state experts had suggested, after being opened given the absence of vaccine vial monitors (VVMs).

“Six hours should still be all right because the four-hour time frame was set as an additional precaution and was not standard requirement,” an official said. “Usually when open vial policy is not allowed, we can use the vial for more than six hours,whichcouldbe happening at some session sites.”

Med aspirant who forged NEET score arrested

Med aspirant who forged NEET score arrested

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Chennai:19.01.2021

City police on Monday arrested an MBBS aspirant who with her father crashed medical counselling with a fake NEET scorecard and went absconding once the fraud came to light.

N B Deeksha of Paramakudi in Ramanathapuram district and her father Dr N K Balachandran, a dentist, had crashed a counselling session on November 30 and sought a seat showing a card with 610 NEET score. The authorities, who noticed discrepancies in records and ranklist, began questioning her and the fraud came to light. Deeksha and her father left the venue and have been in the hiding since.

Deeksha’s original NEET score was 27. Inquiries revealed that she had replaced the photo and roll number of another candidate N Krithika, who had scored 610 marks, and presented the scorecard as her’s.

While her father was arrested two weeks ago, Deeksha was secured from a hotel in the city where she had been staying with her family since the incident. Sources said she confessed to the crime and was remanded in judicial custody on Monday after being produced in front of a magistrate. The Periamet police have booked the duo under sections 419, 464, 465, 468, 47 and 420 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).

Fear of the unknown, rumour mills making health workers think twice

Fear of the unknown, rumour mills making health workers think twice

Kamini.Mathai@timesgroup.com

Chennai: 19.01.2021

He was among the first doctors in Tamil Nadu to receive the Covid-19 vaccine when the drive began two days ago, and since then, Dr E Theranirajan, dean of Madras Medical College, has been doing the rounds at Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital. Not so much to check in on his patients, but on his medical staff to assure them they are not guinea pigs for the vaccine.

“A number of healthcare and frontline workers are hesitant because of incorrect information spread on WhatsApp about vaccine side effects. Though they are in the medical field, they are susceptible to believing fake news,” he says.

A survey conducted among around 1,500 TN healthcare professionals in December found 55% were not willing to take the vaccine immediately and preferred to wait it out for six months. Dr Abdul Ghafur says he submitted his findings to the government to address fears among health workers immediately and scientifically. “The hesitancy is natural. All the other vaccines have been around for decades and they are mostly paediatric, so the apprehension was less. This is an adult vaccine, so fear is expected.”

On January 16, the first day of the vaccine roll out, Tamil Nadu hit less than 20% of its target with several healthcare workers not showing up at centres to be vaccinated.

The reason for vaccine hesitancy, says consultant psychiatrist Dr Mohan Raj, stems from a fear of the unknown fuelled by fake news on social media. “One just has to wait it out to overcome the skepticism,” he says.

Over the past few days, virologist Dr T Jacob John has been receiving calls from the medical fraternity questioning the efficacy of the vaccine. “The hesitancy is because of a lack of information, trust and transparency. Some doctors want to know why there is no choice on which vaccine is administered,” he says.

But health secretary J Radhakrishnan is not overly worried. “In TN, acceptance of a new vaccine has always been slow. We faced the same challenge with the HPV vaccine. Our aim is to ensure there are no adverse events in this rollout,” says Radhakrishnan. “We are like the tortoise in the fable. Slow and steady to the finish.”

Still, the government has begun aggressively debunking false claims on social media. From online live sessions, chats, and face to face group discussions, to positive social media testimonials from those who have taken the vaccine and WhatsApp messages calling healthcare workers the “chosen ones” and “lucky firsts”, the government is on a drive to dispel rumours, says Radhakrishnan.

Radhakrishnan says after the government’s drive, numbers across the state too have climbed by 125% to more than 10,000.

Covaxin co warns people with med conditions not to take jab

Covaxin co warns people with med conditions not to take jab

Not Advised For Pregnant Women Either

Sushmi.Dey@timesgroup.com

NewDelhi:19.01.2021

People who are immuno-compromised or are on medicines that affect the immune system are advised not to take the anti-Covid vaccine Covaxin, a detailed factsheet released by its manufacturer Bharat Biotech said.

Earlier, the government had said patients on immunosuppressants or suffering from immune deficiency could take the vaccine though the response was expected to be less effective in such individuals. Usually, cancer patients on chemotherapy, HIV-positive people and those on steroids are immune-suppressed. While the risk of infection is higher in such patients, doctors also say efficiency of vaccines is often very low in such groups.

Bharat Biotech has advised people with bleeding disorders or who are on blood thinners to avoid the shot. Also, those who are acutely ill, have fever or have any history of allergy, besides pregnant or lactating mothers were also advised against taking the jab. The factsheet suggested that if any recipient developed symptoms of Covid-19, it should be recorded as an adverse event with outcomes of RT-PCR test as proof.

Doctors said the factsheet from Bharat Biotech could be in the light of adverse events — most of them mild — reported from across the country.

Over 10,000 health staff in TN get shots in a day

As many as 10,256 healthcare workers were inoculated against Covid-19 in TN on Monday. It was more than half of the targeted 17,700 beneficiaries for the day. While 10,051 healthcare providers received Covishield vaccine in 160 centres, 205 others opted for Covaxin from six state-run medical college hospitals. As many as 460 healthcare workers were given the shots in The Nilgiris, while in Coimbatore 481were vaccinated. Achieving only 6.7% of the day’s target, Nagapattinam was one of the low performing districts, followed by Tuticorin at 10%. At least 56 healthcare workers opted for Covaxin in Chennai, while 37 opted for it in Tirunelveli. P 4

2nd beneficiary dies; 1st death ‘not related to vax’

A day after Moradabad district hospital ward boy Mahipal Singh, 46, one of those vaccinated against Covid-19, died, another hospital worker — a 43-year-old attender in Karnataka’s Ballari district — passed away on Monday. Both had received the shots on Saturday.

Nagaraj, a patient of diabetes and hypertension, died of a heart attack. “Prima facie, his death isn’t related to vaccination,” the Karnataka government said. Singh’s death was caused due to a cardio-pulmonary disease and wasn’t a result of the vaccination, the Centre said.P 8

More Co-WIN glitches reported

The glitch-prone Co-WIN app failed to inject integration efficiency into the massive pan-India vaccination exercise for the second consecutive day on Monday. While some states faced minor glitches, most struggled to get going in the face of data lag, erroneous communication or total system failure. As a result, the Haryana government allowed vaccinations without pre-registering of recipients. P 8

‘Flu-like symptoms resolve on their own’

All flu-like symptoms, including fever, headache, body ache, tiredness and chills, are adverse reactions of a vaccine if they appear within 48 hours and resolved on their own, vaccine experts said. Not all side-effects were adverse events and not all adverse events were related to the vaccine. The terms should be used very cautiously, said experts. P 8

Limited vax doses to be exported

The government on Monday decided to export limited doses of Covid-19 vaccines to friendly countries as a “goodwill gesture” to meet some of their immediate requirements, sources said. Covaxin will be sent to Mongolia, Oman, Myanmar, Philippines, Bahrain, Maldives and Mauritius, while Covishield will be sent to Bhutan, Seychelles, Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Nepal. P 8

‘Vaccinated person can catch Covid, infection likely to be mild’

Experts have said that though a vaccinated person can catch Covid-19, the infection is likely to be  mild.

The company said the advice was intended to be precautionary. “There is a remote chance that the Bharat Biotech Covid-19 vaccine (Covaxin) could cause a severe allergic reaction… may very rarely occur,” the company said. It added that signs of severe allergic reaction could include difficulty in breathing, swelling of face and throat, fast heart beat, rashes all over the body, dizziness and weakness.

“Tell the vaccinator/officer about all your medical conditions, including: Are you on regular medication for any illness? If yes, for how long and for which condition,” the factsheet said.

A health ministry advisory to states before the rollout of the vaccination programme on January 16 had listed history of allergy, pregnancy and lactation as contraindications. As provisional measures, it had suggested delaying vaccination by 4-8 weeks after recovery among acutely unwell or hospitalised patients along with those infected with Covid-19 and patients who had been treated with convalescent plasma.

The clinical efficacy of Covaxin is yet to be established and it is still being studied in Phase 3 trials. “Hence, it was important to appreciate that receiving the vaccine does not mean that other precautions related to Covid-19 need not be followed,” the factsheet said.

The government has procured 55 lakh doses of Covaxin, which have been distributed among 12 states and UTs.

A medic administers Covid vaccine to a lady constable at a military hospital in Prayagraj on Monday