No vaccine stock, Bengalureans rush to nearby districts for shot

No vaccine stock, Bengalureans rush to nearby districts for shot

Christin.MathewPhilip@timesgroup.com

Bengaluru:11.05.2021 

With the city facing a severe shortage of vaccine supplies, more and more Bengalureans, primarily in the 18-44 age group, are now heading to nearby districts for inoculation.

The skewed digital divide works in favour of them since most have better access to high-speed internet and smartphones, own vehicles and thus are increasingly travelling to neighbouring districts like Bengaluru Rural, Chikkaballapur, Kolar, Ramanagara, Tumakuru, Mandya and Mysuru to get the shots.

This sudden influx could slow down vaccination in these regions and adversely impact locals, who may not be familiar with the rigmarole involved in online registration for a vaccine slot.

Twitter handles like Bangalore Vaccine Update @Blore-Vaccine as well as several Telegram groups provide regular information on availability of slots in and around Bengaluru to tech-savvy citizens. There are also several ‘vaccine availability tracker’ portals, which provide information about centres where vaccines are available. Police are allowing those with confirmation SMS for scheduled vaccination to travel outside the city.

Sudhir Srinivasan, who received his first shot at Chintamani in Chikkaballapur, wrote on Twitter, “Reached at 9.10am. Got tokens around 9.40am. Vaccines arrived at 10.30am. They prioritized the second dose so it took a bit longer. But was out at 11.15am. Around half the recipients were from Bengaluru. Line moves fast (sic).”

Nikhil Rajendran, who booked slots at Chintamani for him and his wife, said: “Vaccination process was smooth. When it came to travelling, I was stopped thrice by police on Bengaluru-Chintamani route, but when I showed the appointment slip, they were fine and there were no issues.”

Abhishek Humney, who travelled from Mahadevapura to Government Boys’ School, Hoskote, said: “The centre was well-managed and there was no crowding. They will ask for your ID proof and appointment confirmation message.”

Girish Valecha, a netizen, asked on Twitter: “I got my vaccination slot in Bangalore Rural (562114) for 14th May. Am I allowed to travel for vaccination from 560008 with appointment slip and SMS confirmation?.” In response, the health department wrote back: “Yes.”

Though there is nothing illegal in getting vaccines from rural areas, health experts fear it could affect the rate of vaccination in those areas. “Bengaluru Rural vaccines are for people living there. Let’s not snatch it away,” tweeted Forever Bengaluru @ForeverBLRU.

Mallikarjuna NH, a netizen, wrote: “I might be overreacting, but these people who are booking rural slots of vaccines from Bengaluru are just shameless.”

Doses administered

According to Co-Win portal, as on Monday, the total vaccine doses administrated in BBMP was 19.86 lakh, followed by Bengaluru Urban (3.02 lakh), Mysuru (7.9 lakh), Bengaluru Rural (1.82 lakh), Kolar (2.36 lakh), Tumakuru

(4.29 lakh), Mandya

(3.26lakh), Chikkaballapur

(2.59lakh) and Ramanagara

(2.29 lakh).

Police act tough across state, citizens complain of caning

Police act tough across state, citizens complain of caning

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Bengaluru:  11.05.2021 

Aggressive policing marked the start of the new two-week lockdown in Karnataka on Monday. There were reports of police teams caning people found outside without a valid reason in Bagalkot, Gadag, Dharwad, Kalaburgi, Belagavi, Ramanagara, Kolar, Chikkaballapur and Tumakuru districts. In north Karnataka, such incidents mainly occurred near vegetable markets and railway stations after 10am.

Long queues of vehicles were seen at checkposts in Bengaluru, Mangaluru, Mysuru and Belagavi as many families tried to return to their hometowns. At several places, police personnel urged them to turn back.

In Bengaluru, authorities set up more than 300 checkpoints, including some in residential areas, to stop the non-essential movement of people and vehicles. “We are paying more attention to sending people back than seizing their vehicles,” said a senior officer. Citizens on the way to seek medical care or vaccination were allowed to proceed after they showed relevant documents.

Some people tried to mislead officials. A two-wheeler rider who was stopped near Chinnaswamy Stadium claimed he was a doctor. He had stuck a board stating ‘Doctor Covid-19 duty’ on his vehicle. When pressed for answers, he revealed he was a member of the housekeeping staff at a private hospital. A youngster driving an SUV with an MLC sticker on the windshield was flagged down near the stadium. He claimed that the car belonged to an MLC, but failed to name the legislator. Police seized the vehicle as he didn’t have a driving licence. Thirty men were caught roaming around in Koramangala.

After a 14-day curfew, the state government announced a stricter lockdown to slow the alarming spread of coronavirus infections that have strained the healthcare system. While free public movement is banned, certain industries have been allowed to operate with riders. The government notification permitting in situ construction that doesn’t involve calling workers from outside led to confusion on Monday. Police across the state came across labourers being taken to construction sites. Such groups were stopped.

“May is the time when construction activities move into top gear. A lot of work has to be completed before the monsoon sets in. The government has allowed construction by workers already at the site. But they have to move around to get materials,” said an engineer supervising a site in Bengaluru Rural.

Though the government has allowed delivery of essential items ordered online, many delivery agents complained that police beat them up. “Our colleagues were harassed by police when they were delivering orders in locations such as Kamakya-Banashankari, Sultanpalya, Mattikere, Shastrinagar, Kodigehalli and Ramamurthynagara. All the incidents took place between 10am and noon,” said Ravi Raj G from OTPxpress.

Doctors’ ethical dilemma: Save the young or seniors?

Doctors’ ethical dilemma: Save the young or seniors?

Sunitha.Rao@timesgroup.com

Bengaluru:11.05.2021 

With an increasing demand for ICU beds and ventilators, clinicians are facing an ethical dilemma over allotment of beds: Young breadwinners or senior citizens? The focus is certainly more on saving the youngsters, multiple hospital authorities told TOI on the condition of anonymity.

“Age has to become a criterion for ICU admission, apart from the patient’s condition. Not that we are denying treatment for the elderly patients outright, but we do feel sorry for the families of young patients suffering from severe forms of the disease,” said an intensivist.

The head of a hospital in west Bengaluru told TOI that he had never faced such an ethical dilemma in his 35-year career. “Who should get priority, given the limited resources? From a medical practitioner’s perspective, we can’t differentiate between the young and the old. Now, it is different. Between an ailing senior citizen whose prognosis suggests s/he may not make a recovery and a young man who has chances of survival, I would go for the latter. We do explain the situation to the families,” the doctor said.

Hospital authorities say their focus is certainly more on saving the youngsters

Disease severity a criterion, not age: Doc

There are very few hospitals that have the extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) therapy, which is used to pump and oxygenate a patient’s blood outside the body, replacing the function of the lungs and heart.

“We have had a 44-year-old man on ECMO for the past three weeks and he is making subtle but gradual improvement. There was only one ECMO machine. A week ago, we had a 22-year-old woman who recently required ECMO. She died in front of us. Being helpless is adding to our stress. Each life we are losing was the one that should have been saved,” said an intensivist from a corporate hospital in Bengaluru.

Besides age, the patient’s class matters as they get multiple calls if s/he is from an influential background.

With resource crunch, NGOs helping several critical patients find a bed admit they do make a choice. “If the Covid patient is young and the only breadwinner of the family, we do make our best attempts to help find a bed,” says Mohammed Ismail, a volunteer working with Emergency Response Team of Mercy Mission.

“On April 30, we received a request from the family of a 32-yearold man, whose oxygen saturation level was 70% and the private hospital where he was had no ventilator for him. His parents had died the previous day and his pregnant wife had gone for their cremation. We had to speak to several MLAs, officers to get him a bed and he was finally shifted to Victoria Hospital,” Ismail said. The priority goes for a young breadwinner of the family, pregnant women in need of ICU beds, he added.

But some doctors look at the treatment path. The only criteria between an old and a young patient would be who is the sicker of the two, said Dr Smitha Thimmaiah, medical superintendent, Sparsh Hospital, Mysore Road. “If my parents were in this situation, I would not have ignored considering their age, right? The same is applicable to any other patient too. Age is not the criterion, but the disease severity and the need of treatment are,” said Dr Smitha.

‘Door-to-door vaccination not feasible’

‘Door-to-door vaccination not feasible’

11.05.2021 

Vaccine production in India will be ramped up to more than 13 crore doses per month by the end of July, the Centre told the SC while negating the court’s suggestions for door-to-door vaccination under the national immunisation scheme as unsuitable for Covid-19 inoculation.

The Centre pointed out that the vaccine is required to be maintained at a particular temperature and the person vaccinated is required to be kept under observation for 30 minutes. Moreover, vaccinators would have to open the vaccine vial box repeatedly, affecting maintenance of temperature and efficacy of the vaccines.

Govt Is Trying To Ramp Up Production Of Vaccines, Court Told

Govt Is Trying To Ramp Up Production Of Vaccines, Court Told

Dhananjay.Mahapatra@timesgroup.com

New Delhi:11.05.2021 

Clearing a cloud of claims over monetary aid given to Covid-19 vaccine manufacturers, the Centre informed the Supreme Court that it has provided no financial assistance to either Bharat Biotech or Serum Institute for development of vaccines but financial support of Rs 46 crore was extended for clinical trials.

“No governmental aid, assistance or grant is made either for research or development of either Covaxin or Covishield. However, they were given some financial assistance for conducting clinical trials,” the Centre said in its affidavit filed late on Sunday night in the SC. It clarified that the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) spent Rs 46 crore on clinical trials of the two vaccines.

The Centre also informed the court that it has given 100% advance money to Bharat Biotech International Ltd (BBIL) and Serum Institute of India (SII), totalling Rs 2,520 crore, for procurement of vaccine doses for the months of May, June and July. SII was paid Rs 1,732.5 crore for 11 crore doses of Covishield and BBIL was paid Rs 787.5 crore for 5 crore doses of Covaxin.

It said Covaxin was developed under public private partnership between the ICMR and BBIL. “ICMR has not provided any funds to BBIL for Covaxin development. However, funds have been spent in various activities undertaken by ICMR and National Institute of Virology (NIV), Pune, for Covaxin development. Also, its phase 3 clinical trials have been funded by ICMR. The trials have been conducted at 22 sites in 25,800 participants. Total estimated expenditure of ICMR is 35 crore,” the Centre said.

“The bridging studies of Covishield on 1,600 participants in India were supported by ICMR in partnership with SII. No funds were provided to SII. Funds were transferred to 14 clinical trial sites. Total estimated expenditure of ICMR is Rs 11 crore,” it added.

According to an central government official, the Centre has also helping vaccine development with autonomous institutes of DBT involved in generating animal models for SARS-CoV-2. The immunoassay labs are serving as national service facilities for vaccine development.

In its affidavit, the Centre said the government was trying to ramp up production of vaccines and both BBIL and SII have expanded their facilities to almost double their production and provide 5.5 crore and 6.5 crore doses of vaccines, respectively, by the end of July. It said by then, Sputnik V production by Dr Reddy’s Laboratories would be around 1.2 crore doses.

“As some foreign vaccines have now been administered globally in large numbers, the NEGVAC has decided to allow the conduct of bridging trials of the foreign vaccines simultaneously with its market deployment as opposed to the earlier requirement of conducting bridging trials prior to market deployment, following due safety and quality protocols and in light of the global experience of these vaccines if such vaccines are approved by USA, UK, EU and WHO,” the Centre said.

It added that 11 new vaccines were in various stages of clinical trials. “The department of biotechnology is supporting the research and development of nearly 11 vaccine candidates by industry and public sector laboratories. Three of these vaccine candidates have progressed from proof-of-concept to the clinical development stage and are currently undergoing clinical trials. To further accelerate Covid-19 vaccine development efforts, support for vaccine candidates in clinical development is being provided under ‘Mission Covid Suraksha - the Indian Covid-19 Vaccine Development Mission’,” the government said

As many as 11 new vaccines are in various stages of clinical trials

We don’t print notes to give Covid aid: Minister

We don’t print notes to give Covid aid: Minister

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Shivamogga:11.05.2021 

Senior Karnataka minister KS Eshwarappa on Monday stoked controversy, saying the government does “not own a printing machine” to mint currency notes and hand out compensation to thousands of working-class people hit hard by Covid-induced lockdown.

The minister said, “Do we print notes (to extend doles)?” at his hometown Shivamogga in reply to state opposition leaders’ demand that the BJP government must consider giving Rs 10,000 compensation to each working-class family.

Eshwarappa is the second minister in the BJP government to make insensitive remarks about the plight of the people in less than two weeks.

On April 28, state food and civil supplies minister Umesh V Katti had told a farmer-activist enquiring about foodgrain allotment to “go die”, following it up by saying that it is a “good time for farmers to die”. The audio clip of the conversation on phone had gone viral, causing major embarrassment to the state government.

Oppn leaders should keep quiet for 14 days, says KSE

On opposition leaders’ criticism of the way in which the government is handling the Covid crisis, Eshwarappa said, “If they keep mum, then the lockdown will be a success (and allow positive cases to fall).” He said former CMs Siddaramaiah, HD Kumaraswamy and Congress state unit president DK Shivakumar should “keep their mouth shut for 14 days so that we can tide over the crisis”.

“It is not the time to criticise the government since the pandemic has attacked India after 100 years… Nobody had foreseen it,” he said.

Eshwarappa’s statement drew sharp reactions from Congress and JD(S), while the BJP offered a calibrated view on the issue. JD(S) leader HK Kumaraswamy said the statement is no different from that of Katti’s. “While Katti was crass, Eshwarappa is much more polished by stating it does not matter whether people die in the state.”

Congress working president Saleem Ahmed said, “It is Eshwarappa’s decision whether he wants to print additional notes or take it from the state exchequer. However, as a minister and leader of the ruling party, it is the responsibility and dharma of the government to help people from poor background.”

BJP state general secretary N Ravi Kumar said, “Opposition parties have been demanding a financial relief package, but that does not mean the government is in a position to provide it. The government will look into the needs of the people and will take an informed decision.”

Stalin launches ₹4,153cr dole to ration card holders, people crowd PDS shops

Stalin launches ₹4,153cr dole to ration card holders, people crowd PDS shops

₹2,000 For Each During First Phase

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

11.05.2021 

Chief minister M K Stalin launched Covid relief distribution for ration card holders in the state on Monday.

Stalin gave away ₹2,000 to seven people at the Secretariat in the presence of cooperatives minister I Periyasamy and food minister R Sakkarapani.

Elsewhere in the state, distribution of tokens for two crore ration card holders commenced at public distribution system outlets. While staff at PDS outlets went door-to-door giving away the tokens, people started thronging ration shops in few places unaware of the door delivery system. Ration shop staff had tough time sending them away. Officials, however, said cash distribution in exchange for the tokens from May 15 will be a seamless exercise with each card holder allotted a separate time slab.

Giving away Covid relief of ₹4,000 was one of the key prepoll promises of Stalin. It was one among the first five orders he signed immediately after assuming charge as chief minister. He allotted ₹4,153 crore for the purpose. Stalin said that ₹2,000 each would be given in the first phase and the remaining would be distributed in second phase.

The token distribution for the first phase would be done over three days and cash distribution is scheduled for May 15 at ration shops. “People should wear face masks, follow social distancing and receive the cash,” the statement said.

As people started thronging ration shops at several places in the morning, officials stepped in and issued instructions to send them back home. Salem district collector S A Raman said that he has strictly instructed ration shop staff to visit every car holders house and distribute token at their door step. “I also instructed the staff not to ask the card holder to come to the shop to collect the token,” he said.

In Chennai, authorities swung into action soon after the scheme was launched by Stalin at the Secretariat. Chennai region has 1,746 ration shops and 21 lakh ration cards. So, authorities have planned to finish distribution of tokens before this Friday. There was confusion whether those with sugar cards, who have applied for conversion into rice cards, will be eligible to get this amount. Food minister Sakkarapani clarified that this group will not be part of the relief distribution program. Officials said a team headed by tahsildar or BDO has been formed to ensure effective implementation of the scheme.

An official from the cooperative department in Madurai said they had ensured that people do not visit ration shops seeking tokens. “Tokens are being given door-to-door. People who did not get the tokens can approach the respective fair price shop on Thursday and get it at once,” he said. According to him, distribution of cash will take seven days to complete from May 15 to cover all card holders in Madurai. People need to visit the shop only at the specified time on the given day to collect the cash, the official added.

DEADLY CROWD: People wait outside a ration shop in Chennai on Monday without adhering to any Covid protocols