The World Health Organisation has pre-qualified a vaccine, PNEUMOSIL®, a vaccine against a leading cause of deadly childhood pneumonia – the pneumococcus bacterium. The vaccine was developed through a collaboration spanning over a decade between Serum Institute of India, Pvt. Ltd. (SIIPL) and PATH and with funding from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. The […]
An advisory issued by the Union Health and Family Welfare Ministry to the states to delay administering potentially life-saving drug oxytocin to women has baffled the health specialists. The advisory sent to health officials in all states and Union Territories calls on obstetric staff to delay the drug Prophylactic Oxytocin be given to women only […]
The Indian Council of Medical Research(ICMR) has launched a vaccine trial to prevent TB for the first time since the BCG vaccine trial. The clinical trial aims at preventing and decreasing the burden of TB in the country. Every year, nearly three lakh people are reported to contract TB. The trial will enrol more than […]
Mycobacterium indicus pranii(MIP) is the name of the organism which drives the world’s first leprosy vaccine. The vaccine was developed in India. Last week saw it being launched as a pilot project. And the ‘pranii’ in the name comes from the name Gursharan Prasad Talwar- who is widely considered as the father of immunology in […]
A vaccine made by Pune-based Serum Institute has shown an inspiring 66.7% efficacy against severe rotavirus gastroenteritis in infants in Niger(West Africa). The oral vaccine is now considered as a gamechanger in the global war against the virus. As per the WHO, the virus kills around 600 children every day, out of which 22% are […]
The world gets it first exclusive vaccine for leprosy from India. The vaccine is to be piloted in five districts of Gujarat and Bihar in the coming weeks. This comes as part of India’s efforts to eradicate the disease which cripples 1.25 lakh people every year in the country. Around 60% of leprosy patients in […]
In the previous two weeks, about 1 lakh children were vaccinated against diphtheria in the Malappuram district in Kerala. The vaccinated kids were either not immunized or only partially immunized before. According to the data from the authorities that was published on Monday, the number of children below sixteen years who were vaccinated as on […]
Mexico unveiled the world’s first approved dengue vaccine. The approval followed two years of clinical trials worldwide on more than 40,000 patients ! According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), “nearly 40 percent of the world’s population (3.9 billion people) is at risk of contracting dengue.” Around 400 million people in more than 128 countries […]