In recent developments, with the rise in cases of coronavirus, there is a possibility of a second wave of COVID-19 looming.
As a result, health experts have stated that there happens to be an urgent need to scale-up the delivery of vaccines in areas that are re-emerging as hotspots across Maharashtra. Moreover, in view of Bharat Biotech getting approval from DCGI to conduct the Phase I clinical trials of its intranasal vaccine, experts have stated that if found to be effective, the vaccine would be a path-breaking development.
Mumbai’s civic body, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) had earlier decided to administer the second dose of the vaccine for the coronavirus to the health workers on Monday, February 15 and has provided for the Co-win application that supports it. Moreover, sessions have been created for the 1,926 individuals who took the vaccine earlier on January 16, the first day of the nation-wide vaccine drive.
However, several medical practitioners, or people from the fraternity, reportedly told several media outlets that they would like to delay receiving the second dose of the vaccine in view of the World Health Organization (WHO) recommendation that the booster dose was most efficacious when taken between 8-12 weeks. On the other hand, civic authorities have stated that they have not received any communication from the Centre or state to extend the interval between the two doses which currently stands at four weeks.
Meanwhile, on Friday, February 19, Maharashtra recorded 6,112 fresh cases of the novel coronavirus. This propelled the state's COVID-19 tally to 20,87,632. Currently, there are 44,765 active cases in the state. With 2,159 COVID-19 patients discharged in the day, the number of recovered soared to 19,89,963.
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