India's covid vaccination drive hit by glitches; people hesitant despite govt's assurance

Agencies
January 18, 2021

COVID-19 Vaccination in India Today LIVE Updates: 'A Day of Tremendous  Relief': Harsh Vardhan on COVID Vaccine Drive

New Delhi, Jan 18: India’s Covid-19 vaccination hasn't got off to a smooth start, with the numbers after two days remaining low due to a combination of factors ranging from technical glitches in the Co-WIN software to a certain degree of vaccine hesitancy among recipients.

On Sunday, more than 17,000 people received the vaccine at 553 sites in six states — four of them in south India. The maximum number of sessions were held in Andhra Pradesh (308) followed by Tamil Nadu (165), Karnataka (64) and Kerala (1). The other two states are Arunachal Pradesh (14) and Manipur (1).

Going by the government’s plan of doing 100 vaccinations at each session site, nearly 55,300 persons should have been vaccinated on Sunday. Instead, only 17,072 individuals got the shots – a shortfall of 69%. Similarly the deficiency on day one was 38% as 2,07,229 persons received the jab instead of 3,35,200.

“Vaccination is not mandatory. While a state may schedule 100 vaccinations on a site it may end up vaccinating either 100 or only 10 at that site,” a spokesperson from the Union Health Ministry told DH on Sunday.

A senior health ministry official said states had been advised to do the Covid-19 vaccinations four days in a week to ensure that the routine immunisation services are not disturbed.

Andhra Pradesh is the only state that decided to carry out the vaccination drive six days in a week because of a dedicated cadre, whereas most of the states stuck to the four-day schedule. Some smaller states and, surprisingly, Uttar Pradesh will undertake the drive only twice a week.

"These are early days. The technical glitches of Co-WIN and coordination mechanism need to be fine-tuned to enhance the capacity,” Giridhar Babu, an epidemiologist at the Public Health Foundation of India, observed.

Manohar Agnani, Additional Secretary, Health Ministry, said that in the first two days 447 adverse events (AEFI or adverse event following immunisation) were reported but only three required hospital stay.

Two persons, who were admitted at Northern Railway hospital in Delhi and All India Institute of Medical Sciences in Delhi, have been discharged while a third person is under observation at AIIMS, Rishikesh, and is doing fine.

On Saturday, Agnani admitted reports of technical glitches in Co-WIN software, but claimed that the issues had been resolved. However, the vaccination programme has been put on hold due to Co-WIN glitches in Mumbai while several sites across the country, including the National Capital Region, and places in Maharashtra also experienced technical issues with the software.

People's cautious approach are also contributing towards vaccine hesitancy. “There are apprehensions among the healthcare professionals and many are following a wait and watch approach,” said Oommen John, a senior public health researcher from the George Institute for Global Health, Delhi.

This view was echoed by B L Sherwal, medical director of Rajiv Gandhi Super Specialty Hospital, New Delhi.

"There is a little bit of apprehension (about the vaccine). Also, people in India adopt a 'wait and watch' approach in important matters, be it purchasing a new car or an appliance. There is a need for creating more awareness and building confidence among people," said Sherwal.

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News Network
November 12,2024

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The UN humanitarian coordinator for Lebanon has warned that the “picture of life in Lebanon remains grim,” highlighting an "alarming" level of human suffering and significant humanitarian consequences due to the ongoing Israeli carnage.

Imran Riza, the UN Deputy Special Coordinator and Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator for Lebanon (UNSCOL), provided a stark overview of the Arab country's dire circumstances in a statement released on Monday.

“The current picture of life in Lebanon remains grim. Yesterday, airstrikes reportedly killed 23 people, including seven children, in the village of Aalmat in Mount Lebanon,” Riza said on X.

An airstrike in the city of Tyre on the same day resulted in the tragic deaths of five siblings from a single family, all of whom had special needs, according to his statement.

He added that in the last week, Israeli airstrikes have killed at least 241 individuals and left 642 others injured in Lebanon, as reported by the Ministry of Health.

“In the past month, more than 185,000 people have fled their homes in their search for safety within the country, bringing the total to over 870,000 people internally displaced,” Riza said

The UN official highlighted that numerous individuals, including the elderly and those with health issues, are staying behind while witnessing the ruins of their ancestral homes.

He urged for the swift safeguarding of civilian people and infrastructure, emphasizing the necessity to uphold international humanitarian law and end the ongoing violence.

Lebanon’s National News Agency reported that Israeli forces bombed a house in the town of Maydoun in Bekaa on Monday night, killing three people and destroying the house.

Earlier, Israel bombed the northern town of Ain Yaaqoub, killing at least 14 people.

The killings came as Israeli military continued to pound Lebanon, bombing shops selling electrical appliances in the southern city of Tyre and carrying out air raids on the towns of Shamshtar in eastern Baalbek and Roumine in southern Nabatieh.

Lebanon’s Ministry of Health said Israeli attacks killed at least 54 people across the country on Monday.

Israel’s merciless attacks continue despite calls from the UN Security Council for an immediate ceasefire and directives from the International Court of Justice urging measures to prevent genocide and alleviate the dire humanitarian situation in Gaza and Lebanon.

In Lebanon, at least 3,243 people have been killed and 14,134 others wounded in Israeli attacks since the war on Gaza began on October 7, 2023.

The Lebanese resistance movement Hezbollah opened a support front for Palestinians in Gaza only a day after the Israeli regime unleashed its genocidal war on the besieged territory.

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News Network
November 12,2024

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The Palestinian Hamas resistance movement says its fighters have killed at least 20 Israeli soldiers in northern parts of the besieged Gaza Strip in just two days, in retaliation for the occupying regime’s genocidal war on the Palestinian territory.

In a statement on Monday evening, Hamas said that fighters of its military wing, al-Qassam Brigades, “killed at least five occupation soldiers” in northern parts of the coastal territory earlier in the day.

It added that Hamas fighters also killed 15 Israeli soldiers in the war-ravaged region on Sunday.

The resistance movement’s “qualitative operation … confirms once again the failure of the criminal Zionist entity to suppress and eradicate the Palestinian resistance, which continues to direct qualitative strikes against its terrorist soldiers,” Hamas further said on its Telegram channel.

Palestinians have increased their resistance operations in the face of intensified Israeli aggression in northern Gaza that has claimed the lives of more than 1,000 over the past weeks.

“Our valiant resistance is waging a war of attrition with the criminal enemy, inflicting daily losses on its soldiers and vehicles, and all of [Israeli prime minister Benjamin] Netanyahu’s bets and dreams of achieving any of his goals are failing,” the Gaza-based resistance movement added.

Hamas also vowed that Israel’s ongoing crimes and aggression against Gaza would be met with increased resistance and painful strikes, which will continue until the aggression against Palestinians ends and the regime fully withdraws from the blockaded territory.

As the war in Gaza enters its 14th month, the Health Ministry reports that Israeli attacks have killed at least 43,603 Palestinians and wounded 102,929 others.

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News Network
November 14,2024

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The UN special rapporteur for Palestine has slammed Israel’s parliament for passing a law authorizing the detention of Palestinian children, who are “tormented often beyond the breaking point” in Israeli custody.

Francesca Albanese, the UN special rapporteur on the rights situation in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, in a Thursday post on X, characterized the experiences of Palestinian minors in Israeli detention as extreme and often inhumane.

The UN expert highlighted the grave impact of this policy, noting that up to 700 Palestinian minors are taken into custody each year, a practice she described as part of an unlawful occupation that views these children as potential threats.

Albanese said Palestinian minors in Israeli custody are “tormented often beyond the breaking point” and that “generations of Palestinians will carry the scars and trauma from the Israeli mass incarceration system.”

She further criticized the international community for its inaction, suggesting that ongoing diplomatic efforts, which often rely on the idea of resuming negotiations for peace, have contributed to normalizing such human rights violations against Palestinian children and the broader population.

The comments by Albanese came in response to Israel’s parliament (Knesset) passing a law on November 7 that authorizes the detention of Palestinian children under the age of 14 for “terrorism or terrorist activities.”

Under the legislation, a temporary five-year measure, once the individuals turn 14, they will be transferred to adult prison to continue serving their sentences.

Additionally, the law allows for a three-year clause that enables courts to incarcerate minors in adult prisons for up to 10 days if they are considered dangerous. Courts have the authority to extend this duration if necessary, according to the Knesset.

The legislation underscores a shift in the treatment of minors and raises alarms among human rights advocates regarding the legal and ethical ramifications of detaining children and the conditions under which they may be held.

Thousands of Palestinians, including hundreds of children and women, are currently in Israeli jails—around one-third without charge or trial. Also, an unknown number are arbitrarily held following a wave of arrests in the wake of the regime's genocidal war on Gaza.

Since the onset of the Gaza war, the Israeli regime, under the supervision of extremist minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, has turned prisons and detention centers into “death chambers,” the ministry of detainees and ex-detainees’ affairs in Gaza says.

Violence, extreme hunger, humiliation, and other forms of abuse of Palestinian prisoners have been normalized across Israel’s jail system, reports indicate.

Over 270 Palestinian minors are being detained by Israeli authorities, in violation of UN resolutions and international treaties that forbid the incarceration of children, as reported by Palestinian rights organizations.

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