NEW DELHI 22 NOVEMBER 2020 SUNDAY `9 PAGES 24  facebook/TheMorningStandard  twitter.com/TheMornStandard https://epaper.morningstandard.in Chasing Ideals One Dance at a Time The Healing Touch of J-Wellness RICH & GREEDY MODERNA, PFIZER VACCINES COULD FIZZLE OUT IN INDIA DOSE OF BAD NEWS VACCINE MAKER ANNUAL CAPACITY PRE-BOOKED PRICE Moderna Pfizer-BioNTech AstraZeneca-Oxford-SII Sputnik V Johnson&Johnson 500m-1b doses 500-800m 1.2 billion 1.2 billion 1 billion 78% 70% 80% Undisclosed Undisclosed $32-37 $20 $3-5 Undisclosed $10 VACCINE STATUS IN INDIA Homegrown vaccine under phase 2/3 trial in India, one each by Bharat Biotech and Zydus Cadila Developed outside but under phase 3 trial in India, one each by Oxford University-AstraZeneca (Indian partner SII) and Russia’s Gamaleya Institute (Indian partner Dr Reddy’s) 30 Total Covid-19 vaccines under pre-clinical/clinical trials in India 500mn Biological E is latest vaccine maker to receive permission to test indigenous vaccine in humans Total doses expected by June-July, 2021 VACCINES LIKELY TO BE AVAILABLE BY JUNE-JULY NEXT YEAR SERUM INSTITUTE OF INDIA 35 MILLION DOSES PER MONTH COST $3 PER DOSE BHARAT BIOTECH 300 MILLION ANNUAL* COST UNDISCLOSED *As of now, to be scaled to 500 million dose, which may be unaffordable for the national vaccination programme. This in effect means India will have to wait for its home grown vaccines such as the ones being developed by Bharat Biotech and Zydus, or those that are being developed here by Oxford University-AstraZeneca and Russia’s Sputnik V . The advance booking of the vaccines by rich countries was recently highlighted by the Duke Global Health Innovation Center, US. Its analysis earlier this month found that high-income countries and some middle-income countries had reserved 8.8 billion vaccine doses with some high-income countries booking more than required. About 78% of the Moderna vaccine, or 500 million-1 billion doses, have been booked while 70% of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine had been similarly grabbed already . Pfizer-BioNTech is getting $1.95 billion from the US government for 100 million doses while Moderna has received $2.5 billion for an undisclosed number of doses. India has not released details of any possible deal with the vaccine companies but union health minister Harsh Vardhan said on Thursday the country may have 500 million doses of the coronavirus vaccines for about 25 crore people by June-July 2021. Sources attached with the National Expert Group for Covid-19 Administration said even though talks are on with vaccine companies, the country’s hopes are pinned on those “made in India” or those being developed here. CONTINUED ON P7 Ayurvedic doctors now allowed to do surgeries E X P R E SS N E WS S E R V I C E @ New Delhi IN a move that is set to trigger sharp reactions from practitioners of modern medicine, post graduate degree holders of Ayurveda have now been allowed to perform a variety of procedures including general surgery orthopaedic, ophthal, mology ENT and dental proce, dures and surgeries. The Central Council of Indian Medicine (CCIM) in its gazette notification allowed Ayurvedic PG passouts to receive formal training for such procedures. The development indicates the growing emphasis on traditional medicine under the Narendra Modi government. The training modules for surgical procedures will be added to the curriculum of Ayurvedic studies, as per a new gazette notification. The development has come after the CCIM amended Indi- MAGAZINE TJS George Prabhu Chawla Shankkar Aiyar Ravi Shankar S U M I S U K A N YA D U T TA @ New Delhi an Medicine Central Council (PG Ayurveda Education) Regulations, 2016, to include the regulation to allow the PG students of Ayurveda for practising the general surgery . “The CCIM, with the previous sanction of the Central Government, hereby makes the following regulations further to amend the Indian Medicine Central Council (Post Graduate Ayurveda Education) Regulations, 2016,” said the gazette notification. The Act has been renamed Indian Medicine Central Council (Post Graduate Ayurveda Education) Amendment Regulations, 2020. It added that the students will be trained in two streams of surgery and would be awarded titles of MS (Ayurveda) shalya tantra general surgery and MS (Ayurveda) shalakya tantra (disease of eye, ear, nose, throat, head and orodentistry). Juice the Benefits Dark Themes and a Droll Touch EXCLUSIVE VOICES Kid You Not NEWS of the successful phase 3 clinical trials of the Covid-19 vaccines being developed by US biotech firms Moder na and Pfizer has cheered the world but it may be a bit early for India to celebrate. Pfizer along with its German partner BioNTech has already applied for emergency use authorization of its vaccine from the US drug regulator, the Food and Drug Administration, and if approved it could be available for regulated use as early as next month. But India may not stand to benefit much, at least in the near future, either from the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine or the one being developed by Moderna. This is because of three reasons. Firstly a bulk of all the vac, cines being developed, PfizerBioNTech and Moderna included, has been pre-booked by rich countries, leaving low income countries in the cold. Secondly, the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines need to be stored at extremely cold conditions, something the cold chains in India may not have the capacity to do. The Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine candidate needs to be stored at -70 degree Celsius, which is impractical in India, while the one by Moderna requires to be kept at -20 degree Celsius. In India, most vaccines under the National Immunisation Programme, except the polio and rotavirus vaccines, need to be stored at 2-8 degree Celsius. The polio vaccine needs to be stored at -20 but once opened it can be simply refrigerated and used within four weeks. Storage of the Moderna vaccine, at -20, is difficult but not impossible. But the company has no immediate plans for distribution in India. Lastly the Pfizer-BioNTech , and Moderna vaccines are expensive. While the final price is yet to be determined, they could cost up to $20-37 per PLUS: 12 PAGES Anand Neelakantan Rajat Chaudhuri Shinie Antony Neil McCallum Where Wild Flowers Roam AMMA SPEAKS Reeling in a Virus Surrender to the Divine ADMK-BJP alliance will continue Shah attacks ‘corrupt’ DMK, Congress; asks under whose regime did 2G scam take place T M U R U GA N A N D H A M @ Chennai UNION Home Minister Amit Shah on Saturday announced it was Tamil Nadu’s turn to end dynastic politics next year, after the AIADMK announced that the alliance with the BJP would continue for the 2021 Assembly elections. Shah also hailed the AIADMK government assuring that the Modi government would stand like a rock with the dispensation led by Edappadi K Palaniswami and O Panneerselvam. Both AIADMK leaders announced the continuance of the alliance with the BJP at a government function where Shah dedicated KannankottaiThervoy Kandigai reservoir for the people and laid the foundation for infrastructure projects worth `67,378 cr. On the occasion, Shah gave a detailed account on the welfare schemes being implemented by the Central government for Comedian in NCB net for keeping drugs Amit Shah waves to party workers in Chennai on Saturday | DEBADATTA MALLICK PM Modi has waged a battle to end dynasty politics, corruption and casteism in the country. Under his leadership when we fought state polls, dynasty parties had to face defeat — Amit Shah, Home Minister Tamil Nadu. The AIADMK government’s handling of the Covid crisis efficiently with 97 percent recovery rate — the highest in the country — especially came if for praise. Targeting the DMK on cor- ruption and dynasty politics, Shah said the party would face a rout in the Assembly polls in the state where “democratic forces” would prevail. Stating that Congress and the DMK had no locus standi to talk about corruption, Shah dug up the the multi-crore 2G spectrum scam to target the opposition party . “Prime Minister Modi has waged a battle to end dynasty politics, cor r uption and casteism in the country Under . his leadership when we fought state polls, dynasty parties had to face defeat. It is now the turn of a dynasty party in Tamil Nadu, which doesn’t function on democratic values but only takes forward dynasty politics will lose elections,” he said, in an apparent reference to the DMK. The BJP leader also asked what the DMK had done for Tamil Nadu despite being in power for 10 years in UPA I and II. “I want to ask the DMK and Congress. You were in power for 10 years. Show the details of what you did in 10 years and let us have a public debate. I am ready to give accounts (of what NDA did for Tamil Nadu),” he added. D E L H I C O V I D W AT C H POSITIVE CASES 5,23,117 RECOVERED 4,75,106 DEATHS 8,270 ACTIVE CASES 39,741 E X P R E SS N E WS S E R V I C E @ Mumbai COMEDIAN Bharti Singh was arrested in Mumbai on Saturday by the Narcotics Control Bureau after she reportedly admitted to possessing cannabis. Singh and her husband Harsh Limbachiyaa were taken to the NCB’s office for questioning after the anti-drug agency recovered 86.5 gm of ganja (cannabis) during a search of their home and office on Saturday morning. The agency also carried out searches at two other locations in Mumbai. Upon her arrival at the NCB’s office, Singh told reporters: “They have called us for some questioning, that’s all.” Sameer Wankhede, investigating officer at NCB, said the couple were detained for questioning about possession of narcotic substances”. Singh’s name emerged during questioning of drug peddlers and probe in the Sushant Singh Rajput death case. HUMANE KASHMIR COP GOES BEYOND HIS BRIEF Moved by conditions of the poor in Srinagar after two lockdowns in seven months, a young traffic police officer sets up a ‘Wall of Kindness’ where people can donate clothes for the needy | P5 A civil defence personnel challans a man found not wearing a mask in New Delhi on Saturday | SHEKHAR YADAV Mask, social distancing drive with increased fine and awareness EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE @ New Delhi ON the first of the enhanced fine for not wearing masks in public, as many as 1,306 persons were fined for flouting the rule, one person was fined for spitting while 51 challans were issued for not maintaining social distancing norms. The Delhi government had recently increased the fine amount to `2,000 from `500 even as it launched a drive to generate more awareness among the people. On Saturday, MLAs were seen taking rounds in their constituency and urging locals to wear masks. Kalkaji MLA Atishi distributed protective face masks in Govindpuri. She encouraged the residents and shop owners to keep a set of masks and distribute to those who were not wearing them. Deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia led an awareness campaign on social distancing and distributed free masks in Patparganj of east Delhi, his constituency He said as Cov. id-19 cases were on the rise, chief minister Arvind Kejriwal had appealed to everyone to wear masks and spread awareness about the virus. A mask distribution and social distancing awareness campaign was organised at Shanti Marg, West Vinod Nagar and Narwana Road in Pat- parganj focusing on local citiz e n s, f r u i t s e l l e r s a n d shopkeepers. Sisodia said despite making repeated appeals to wear masks and follow the social distancing norms, few people were following the rules. Ward councillor Geeta Rawat along with a large number of volunteers and local citizens joined the awareness drive. Meanwhile, Punjab CM Amarinder Singh offered help to the Delhi government. “Delhi is fighting a tough battle and we are there to help. It is the duty of the state government to support the frontline P4 workers,” he said. BIZARRE In five years, Bihar deputy chief minister grows older by 12 R A J E S H K U M A R T H A K U R @ Patna NO sooner had the dust settled over Mewa Lal Chaudhary ap, pointed education minister but who had to quit in disgrace after it was pointed out that he was an accused in corruption cases during his stint as a vicechancellor, another controversy has erupted, this time over date of birth of deputy chief minister Tar Kishor Prasad. The controversy has erupted over the age he has declared since the 2005 elections. That year, Prasad in his affidavit stated that he was 48 years old. But when he contested the assembly elections in 2010, he submitted to the Election Commission that he was 49, in other words in five years he grew older by only one year. Five years later in the 2015 elections, Prasad stated his age to be 52, ageing by only three years. But his 2020 election affidavit takes the cake. The deputy CM has declared himself as 64 years old, or growing older by 12 years in a span of five. “Bihar Deputy Chief Minister at his age is also involved in scam and threatening contractors for commission and making all his family members a contractor. The entire Katihar knows that without commission they do no work in the area. Now the whole of Bihar will be familiar with their exploits,” the Rashtriya Janata Dal tweeted. No BJP leader could be contacted for comment but Janata Dal (United) leader Ashok K Chaudhry told a news channel that a minor mistake might have occurred due to a clerical error. “It (the affidavit) should be checked before it is submitted but this is not a serious matter,” he said. Prasad is a four-term MLA who has been inducted into the council of ministers for the first time. He has been given the coveted finance portfolio apart from commercial taxes and environment and forest.