Health & Wellness Community

Till date, the country accounted 98.55 crore doses of Covid-19 vaccines given to the public. On Monday, 83.30 lakh doses were accounted till 7.15 PM. With this speed of vaccination in such a short period, the country is set to reach the 100-crore vaccination mark in the next few days. Among these doses, the maximum contribution of vaccines has come from the serum Institute of India (SII), which is nearly 88 % of the total vaccine doses given so far. Apart from that, almost 6.7 crore vaccines have been exported by the Serum Institute of India to other countries. Vaccination has been the most powerful tool to handle the pandemic so far. Till now, nearly 75 % of the population has got its first dose, whereas 30% of the population is now fully vaccinated. Along with that, more than 10.72 crore doses are still available with states and union territories. Serum Institute of India delivered more than it had committed and was a significant player in helping the government to run vaccination drives so effectively. Source: finacialexpress.com

COVID -19 was made responsible for millions of deaths worldwide, but that’s not the only loss the pandemic has done to humanity. The Lancet Regional Health-Americas published a study report on how the COVID-19 pandemic has affected people’s mental health. The study has highlighted, the pandemic not just increased the rate of depression but the rise in number of cases is worse compared to other traumatic events like; weather, terror attack, or earlier pandemics. During this study, the author of the investigation by the Boston University School of Public Health (BUSPH) used the data collected on depression before and after the pandemic to compare the study. Participants filled a survey form to determine if they were suffering from any depression or not. In 2021, the survey showed that 32.8% of respondents had depression symptoms in 2021, which was 27.8% in 2020. Source: medicalnewstoday.com

As per new research findings, people with diabetes and stroke may maintain an ideal sugar level to avoid the risk of different vascular diseases like a stroke or a heart attack later on. Findings of this research were published in the medical journey ‘Neurology.’ The study author Moon-Ku Han, MD, Ph.D., of Seoul National University College of Medicine in Korea, said, “Suffering from diabetes may lead to a higher risk of a heart attack. But as per our studies, optimum blood sugar level maylower the risk of getting another stroke, a heart attack or other vascular problems. This study involved 18,567 diabetic patients with an average age of 70. All the participants were admitted to the hospitals for an ischemic stroke caused by a blood clot. After admission, the researcher used a test called hemoglobin A1C to determine people’s blood sugar levels for the past two or three months. Participants had an average A1C of 7.5 percent. After observation of one year, it was found that there is an association between A1C level with risk of having another stroke, a heart attack or dying from these vascular causes. Source: Healthworld.com

A new research study from the centre for disease control and Prevention (CDC) has found that a mandate of wearing masks in schools plays a significant role in preventing COVID-19 cases among students. As per the CDC study, cases in children increased at a significant rate. The CDC studies pediatric COVID-19 rates from 520 counties where wearing a mask was consistent in all schools; it was applied to all schools consistently or to none of them. The CDC adjusted findings for controlling child vaccination rates for teachers and school testing data. In areas where the wearing mask was not mandatory, on average, there were 35 new pediatric cases per 100,000 children each day over two weeks of span. Source: healthline.com

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has given a Thumbs up for some special people to get the booster shots. Under this, people who have taken Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine atleast six months agoand those above the age of 65 or those at a higher risk of infection due to their previous medical reasons. Or elsethe ones suffering fromthe severe disease are eligible for getting this booster dose of vaccine. The news came in public a day after the FDA panel recommended that boosters be given to older adults and those at a high risk of infection. As per the research, protection provided by COVID-19 vaccines appears to wane over time, especially for people above the age of 65 and older. Source: healthline.com

During this pandemic time, it was anticipated that around one-third of Executive Directorsof Nifty 100 companies had taken a cut in remuneration in 2020-21. The data compiled by primeinfobase.com on the compensation of executive directorsof Nifty 100 companiesshows that around 59 such people took a slash in their pay during the last fiscal year compared to 2019-20. The data available was for about 200 Executive directors of these firms. Some of them were either appointed in the middle of the year or ceased in the middle of the year. On the same note, around 17 of the 65 Nifty 100 companies for which data on median salaries got collected, there was a reduction in wages in the year 2020-21 compared to 2019-20. On average, most of Nifty 100 companies and top management saw an improvement in their remuneration last fiscal year despite being a pandemic hit a year, which brought the economy towards stability at least for the first four months of the year. Source: thehindubusinessline.com

According to two sources who claim to have direct knowledge about the situation told Reuters that India is likely to start the vaccination process for children aged 12 years and above from mid-October 2021 when drugmaker Cadila Healthcare launches its ZyCoV-D product.   The world’s first DNA-based Covid-19 vaccine, ZyCoV-D won emergency authorisation from Indian regulators last month. From October, the company, better known as Zydus Cadila, will produce 10 million doses a month.   The Health Ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The sources sought anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the media. The vaccine is the only one approved for children in India, which has given a total of 825.9 million doses to adults among its population of nearly 1.4 billion.   If the vaccination for children begins in October, quite a lot of things will change in the country. If the student population receives a vaccination, schools will likely reopen for all in a hybrid or an in-person model. In some states, opening schools for children before vaccination has resulted in widespread COVID-19 infections amongst students. Therefore, the spread of the COVID-19 virus will lessen further if vaccinations are given to students below the age of 18 years.   Source: The article has been published by Reuters with additional inputs by the ArdorComm News Network team.

In a recent announcement by Pfizer, it was claimed that a phase 2/3 trial showed its covid 19 vaccines are safe as well as generating robust antibody response in children aged between 5 to 11 years. Pfizer is the first ever to provide such results in terms of the Covid-19 vaccine for this particular age group, although the data has not yet been peer-reviewed or published. Pfizer has said that it is soon planning to submit a request for emergency use authorization to the US Food and Drug Administration. Which, FDA officials have communicated that once the report is submitted; the agency can authorize a vaccine for younger children within weeks. This trial of vaccine by Pfizer included 2,268 participants aged between 5 to 11 years, and a two-dose vaccine regimen was given and administered 21 days apart. Source: edituoncnn.com

Delhi: Dengue has been on the rise in India, and now, the nation’s capital Delhi is the new target. According to data, Delhi has recorded over 50 new Dengue cases in the past week. The total count for this year is a little more than 210. In addition, 87 new cases have been added till September 18, which is about 41 per cent of the total cumulative cases. Dengue cases have been at a record high from January 1- September 18. This number is the highest since 2019 when the reported cases were estimated to be around 217. Civic reports by municipal corporations show that 158 cases have been logged till September 11, 2021, and 53 new cases have been documented by the end of last week. In August, 78 new cases were reported in total. The death toll, so far, has been zero. According to reports, the month-wise distribution of cases is — January (0), February (2), March (5), April (10) and May (12), June (7) and July (16). In the previous years, the cases in the same period were — 1,375 (2016), 1,465 (2017), 343 (2018), 217 (2019) and 172 (2020). According to the civic report released on Monday, 86 cases of Malaria and 44 cases of Chikungunya have been reported till September 18, 2021. Source: Financial Express

Doctor Mike Ryan, Executive director of the WHO Health Emergencies Programme has stated that the COVID -19 pandemic will not end completely and there will still be chances of it spreading rapidly all over the world. Further, he has also added that the virus of the 2009 pandemic i.e. swine flu is on the rise once again, and is spreading rapidly. In his statement, he has also said that, as the vaccination rate increases all over the world, more people will achieve herd immunity which will result in a decrease in death and hospitalization rates. But, the COVID – 19 virus will still remain a matter of concern in the public health domain. His statement was as follows, “The lower levels of transmission and the more equitable distribution of vaccines will mean that herd immunity is achieved, and gradually we can look at lower levels of hospitalization. But as of now, it continues to be a public health emergency of international concern,” The 2009 virus breakout was labelled as the swine flu pandemic, which was reportedly the first global flu pandemic in 40 years. It began in January 2009 and lasted till August 2010. On an estimated value, almost 2, 84,500 people were victims of the swine flu pandemic. According to a study by an international group of scientists published in 2012, the estimate was 15 times the number confirmed by laboratory tests at the time. Source: India Today