Banjot Kaur
@Banjotkaur
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Health reporter @TheWire_in + @TheWireScience | Ex @down2earthindia , @timesofindia | Twtr hibernation: 2010-19 | ViewsOwn | RT≠endorsement| banjotkbhatia @gmail .com
New Delhi/Rewa(M.P.)
Joined October 2010
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Landed in
#Dharavi
in July, spent 6 days there. Wanted to understand what contained the virus; if it was too early to declare victory; and what other existential issues of people have proved to be inherent contradictions of the 'model'. 1st one of series:
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1K
4K
TV channels are showing images of their reporters taking a
#Covid19
shot (or placebo) and giving verdict since they are fine, so is vaccine.
This is just not science! If it was so, we never needed clinical trials in India. This is misinformation!
@IndEditorsGuild
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1K
"Journalism is printing what someone else does not want printed; everything else is public relations."
A cliche?
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#Dolo
story shouldn't surprise, here's why:
Replying my four RTI applications in 2019,
@Pharmadept
gave me names of 20 pharma firms, which the govt knew, had bribed the docs. This was info ON RECORD. But not a single company got punished. (1/n)
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769
This is not just for Mandeep Punia . This is not just for Dharmendra Singh. This is to assert that freedom to speak is our inalienable right!
Without a shred of doubt.
At Delhi Police HQ
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TOI-Patna photojournalist KM Sharma has died of
#COVID__19
. He was infected covering electoral conferences. It is literally impossible to sum up him or his work here. In one of his last conversations, he asked his friend, "What was the need to conduct election now?"
@SheezanN
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Indian Made Cough Syrups Kill 66 Children in Gambia; No Alert From India's Drug Controller Yet via
@thewire_in
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DISEASE ELIMINATION DEADLINES
Kala-azar: 2017. Revised 2020 ❌
Leprosy: 2018 ❌
Filariasis: 2017 ❌
Now, new deadlines for KA: 2023. Filariasis: 2030
TB elimination deadline: 2025
Interim target to be achieved till 2020: 142 per 100,000
But prevalence in 2019-21: 312 per 100,000
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Govt quietly accepts its blunder
Today's Science min release says:
Along with the 2 Indian vaccines,
#COVAXIN
and ZyCov-D, the world over, 11 out of 140 vaccine candidates have entered the human trials. *None*of these vaccines is unlikely to be ready for mass use before *2021*
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Cliche to repeat but this was the man who gave oxygen to many when Delhi was breathless and the government had gone into hiding
Received this disturbing video of
@srinivasiyc
being snatched by hair by the police during protests by Congress members after
@RahulGandhi
's detention by
@DelhiPolice
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HEALTH SPENDING: National Health Policy 2017 said it should go up to 2.5% of GDP by 2025.
But 2022-23 Budget proposed to spend 0.35%. For 2021-22 only 0.34%. Health eco say India will miss the target of 2.5%. Btw,India hs one of the highest out-of-pocket expenditure on health
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That’s why it’s better not to have a national assn of medical professionals than to have an unscientific one like
@IMAIndiaOrg
. Have a look at its recent
#Covid
advisory: (1/n)
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NUTRITION TARGETS FOR POSHAN ABHIYAN LAUNCHED in 2018
Anaemia to⬇️3% PA. Instead it⬆️not only in children but also women b/w NFHS-4 and NFHS-5.
Stunting had to ⬇️ to 25% by 2022. But till 2021 it stood at 35.5%. Now it hs ⬇️ to by at least 10% pts in a yr -- an impossible target.
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Madam anchor, pardon me, I don't remember ur name.
But here to just to school you in Punjabi lang.
Tussi=aap, tuhade=aapke
'Tu yaar': It is very common parlance in Punjabi. Nothing unparliamentary.
To you: Punjab ch election aagey.Zabaan sikh lo,nahi to aukha ho jana
@aajtak
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SWACHH BHARAT: PM declared India ODF in 2019.
But NFHS-5 says,"19 % households do not use any toilet facility, meaning that they practise open defecation."
Except for Lksdwp, no single state/ UT where 100% popn has access to toilet.
>30% popn in mny states don't hv a toilet
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Today was the first appearance of India’s
#DCGI
on a public platform after the WHO suspended the supply of
#BharatBiotech
’s
#Covaxin
to UN due to quality issues it found in its manufacturing practises, in March this year (1/n)
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Two unrelated facts
India crosses 100,000 (one lakh) mark in terms of
#COVID__19
positive cases.
It was straight eighth day today that
@MoHFW_INDIA
did not hold the daily press briefing.
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2 days ago PM hailed “Covid warriors”. Today they were roughed up by police. Their protest against
@MoHFW_INDIA
entered 11th day. This is one of the rare protests where aggrieved party and its opposite one are on the same page. Yet, demands unfulfilled
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So two days after
#UN
meet on
#TB
, which IND health minister skipped amid unprecedented drug stock-outs, TB patients and survivors are now planning to write a joint letter to PM
@narendramodi
and also address global bodies in a desperate bid. (1/n)
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Response of
@theliverdr
To
@thewire_in
:
“This was completely unexpected. I was never notified [of court order]. I did not receive any documents or notification from the court or Himalaya. I received the order literally from Twitter itself which had attached it with its email+
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COVID-19 AND POLICY PARALYSIS: In Jan 2021, PM announced at WEF that India had defeated the monster; mocked ppl making doomsday predictions. Rest, 2021 is history.
But this was one part of the story. Questionable nod for vaccines and drugs continue to mar the sci decision making
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AYUSHMAN BHARAT N RURAL HEALTH: 1.5L Health and Wellness Centers had to come up by 2022. Only 80.7k had by Dec 2021. Half the target now for 1 yr.
But what about HR. Enuf in HWCs?Retention? Absenteeism? And, RHS 2020-21 showed acute shortage of gynae, pedia,surgeons,GPs in CHCs
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On MMR ⬇️ , govt hs almost achieved the target it had indicated. IMR also done. Mortality indicators look good but sharp inter-state divide mar this.
Giving cheaper medicines through Jan Aushadhi stores also a +ve story but quality issues, lack of awareness need more efforts.
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We know the idea of asking reporters to put quests on
@MoHFW_INDIA
WA group before
#pressers
has been farcical. Not only quests are cherry-picked, hardly 1 or 2 are taken up. Here's a thread of quests which went
#unanswered
on
#Apr_3
.
#IndiaFightsCoronavirus
by
#GaggingPress
.
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PM
@narendramodi
today said new
#AIIMS
have come up at Darbhanga, Kalyani, Guwahati and at many other places.
Months ago, while campaigning during K’taka polls, he had said the same.
Then, had written this.
Yet, he says it again and again, and again.
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Petitioners wanted the exam to be delayed because they said counselling for previous yr's exam clashed with current exam. The process for one has not completed and that for the next will be starting in 8 days. Short summary. Details 👇 1/n
@TheWireScience
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Union health secy says today Delta plus is VoI. Less than an hour later MoHFW press release says it's VoC. A clarification says, no, it's VoI. A second clarification, now, says press release holds.
#DeltaPlusVariant
is
#VoC
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WHO found Good Manufacturing Practises violations at
#BharatBiotech
's unit making
#Covaxin
in March. The firm gave corrective plan in June. But WHO rejected it. The unit is operating at unacceptable level of quality standards, it now says.A video explainer
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Though
#BharatBiotech
is now waiting to launch an all new intranasal vaccine against
#Covid_19
pending regulator's nod, its problems with
#Covaxin
are still far from over ever since
#WHO
suspended its supply for UN agencies in April (1/n)
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KS James, director of IIPS, an institute that comes up with
#NFHS
, is now in Vienna, as a short-term scholar after whatever unfolded ever since he was 'suspended' on July 28.
His is a test-case saga of as what they say 'chronology samajhiye': (1/n)
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There are quite a few things that just need to be recorded for the sake of history. That, the
@MoHFW_INDIA
won't to hold a press conference for the 4th consecutive day today, and won't do it for 2 more days too, in the middle of
#pandemic
, is one among them.
Cases: 81,970.
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So much talk about a 'new' subvariant,
#BF7
. An entire nation has bn sent into panic but where does it figure in the govt's consortium of genome sequencing, INSACOG -- which is supposed to inform about emergence of new variants? Nowhere.
INSACOG last WEEKLY bulletin pub in Sept.
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Religious profiling of cases is not helpful as it leads to stigma:
@WHO
on
#TabligiJamaat
. Will
@MoHFW_INDIA
rethink?
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“India reported 145 new cases in last 24 hrs out of which 4 cases are of new China variant - BF.7,”
#IMA
says.
1. To call a variant by a country’s name flouts ALL principles of global health regulations. Every variant has been given a scientific name. Please read more.
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member confirms this. There is no data on its clinical trial in public domain, even for adults. The company says publication is a work in progress. Vinod Paul says "trust" drug controller. But what about "science" that rests on evidence?
@TheWireScience
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India gives clean chit to
#MaidenPharmaceutical
products that were potentially linked to deaths of 69 children in
#Gambia
. But what does the Swiss lab report say where the WHO had sent samples. Also, what does a Gambia's epidemiologist say? (1/n)
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#MaidenPharma
, the Haryana-based company which is now under fire for deaths of 66 children in
#Gambia
, can be potentially under scanner now for some more serious charges. (1/n)
@thewire_in
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Some more details about 8th death following
#covid_19
immunisation "Covishield given. Don't think she had any pre-exisitng illness. PM on. Died in home on Jan 24, didn't reach hosp, immunised on Jan19. Immediate event leading to death unknown" GS Rao, director, public health
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First randomised controlled trial on
#HCQ
for
#COVID__19
done in France has failed. Another RCT done in China too has failed.
Both studies point out towards significant adverse effects of the drug. Will it prompt any changes in Indian policy
@ICMRDELHI
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@WHO
releases excess Covid-19 death estimates.
4.7 million excess Covid-19 deaths took place in India till December 2021, according to WHO. The current official reported toll is 0.52 million.
@TheWireScience
@thewire_in
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India registers more than 8k cases in last 24hrs. The 'biggest' spike.
More than 200 deaths, too. Only US and UK registered more deaths than India in the day, among top 10 nations.
Source:
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A close friend read piece n called. He said his dad, who had pre-existing liver conditions and diabetes, consumed
#giloy
as nobody at that time warned them. His health worsened; died.
Never knew this had hit so near. So close.
Wish this was done earlier
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After SEC gave nod for emergency use of Bharat Biotech and SII
#COVID19
#vaccines
,
@MoHFW_INDIA
has now invited journalists for a press meet tomorrow where the
#DCGI
would make a statement.
Has also clarified in the same vein though.
NO QUESTIONS WILL BE TAKEN.
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We democratically elected war criminals in 21st century who bombed a hospital, or aided the bombing.
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#Gambia
Health minister
@mansukhmandviya
said in a podcast hosted by ANI editor contaminated meds didn't cause kids' deaths. 'Aapko jaanke ascharya hoga bachco ko diarrohea hua aur cough syrup de dia!'
Now a report, like previous ones, debunk this.
(1/n)
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This may prove to be very very costly. Forget scientific ethics and principles of trial, it was just not worth a publicity stunt.
It will be difficult to counter the sheer quantum of disinformation emerging out of this one incident.
This gentleman was photographed getting a shot in Bharat Biotech's Covaxin trial around two weeks ago. If the trial was conducted as per protocol, no one ought to have known whether he got vaccine or placebo. But now everyone is reporting he got the disease *despite* the vaccine.
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What caught my attention in this dharna of jr and sr resident doctors of medical colleges in New Delhi outside Union health minister was just not what they were demanding--counselling for admission of PG students--but also some of the slogans that they came up with!
@thewire_in
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.
@theliverdr
Moves High Court To Get X Account Restored
Btw, another company has demanded ₹1cr in damages from him. Besides Himalaya’s 10cr.
PS: I wonder if he has made an excel doc saying how much has he to pay to all these companies in his lifetime!
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After six months when
#B1617
(Indian variant) was found in samples in India we don't know it's TRANSMISSIBILITY, LETHALITY AND REINFECTIONS (if caused)
It was asked in
@MoHFW_INDIA
presser today. It was a question in last presser. It was asked at
@DBTIndia
webinar 2 weeks ago.
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“..145 cases in last 24 hrs out of which 4 are of new variant”
3 cases of BF.7 were detected b/July-Nov!! How come they be new cases??All four of them were treated at home, didn’t even need hospitalisation. Where does IMA gets its facts from? Why doesn’t it say they are well now
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Powerful words from Prof Shahid Jameel at a
@DBTIndia
webinar, for scientists and administrators dealing with Covid-19:
Science is a process that calls for evidence-based policy making and not policy based evidence-making
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Mother of all advisories by IMA: Avoid international travel (pt 5)!
Does even IMA understand at what level of threat this extreme step is taken by the govts? What repercussions will this step have? No govt, even GoI advises so at this stage.What Sci understanding IMA relied upon
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All doctors working in India, especially IMA members need to ask IMA what made it issue this statement amplifying panic, sans rationale and science? At whose behest is it being done and whose unsaid words is it trying to utter?
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He made a film tax-free in his state whose director in an interview said, "Who said facts are facts?"
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After a mth
@MoHFW_INDIA
convened PC. However, some journalists who were present there (not many came) weren't allowed to ask questions. When they protested of sorts, they were asked, after the PC was officially called off, to go downstairs and ask like this 👇
#SocialDistancing
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BCG again!
This was the same consulting group, whose estimates, Dr Vinod Paul, used at a press conference during the first wave of pandemic, to claim the ‘sudden’ n unplanned lockdown in India announced on TV, had averted lakhs of infections and several deaths!
#Governance
| The Union government has appointed the consulting company BCG to help prepare a Vision 2047 document, the report said.
It will reportedly be focused on a strategy to make India a middle-income nation.
#Economy
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#Covaxin
study saying the jab is 50% effective hasn't been much on the expected lines. Irrespective, this was v imp ques to be addressed. But on the glittering eve to launch the book about story of vax devpt,it was dodged by two imp people--ICMR chief and Bharat Biotech's Dr Ella
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No questions taken up in the
@MoHFW_INDIA
press briefing which happened on a day India started
#COVID19
vaccination. A statement read out by ministry official giving numbers of how many got vaccinated today by how many in states/UTs.
2nd presser without questions. For record
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Report of the fact finding committee, on the basis of which KS James,
#IIPS
head, who was suspended, was not shared with him or was allowed to respond to it before suspension,
@thewire_in
has learnt.
This and more:
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At least the reported portions of court order don't discuss internship issue. Now, the docs assn say they will again approach Union govt again to discuss. But only 8 days are left for exam now. 2.6L hv registered for exam. 9(n/n)
#NEETPG2022
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Thank you for this opportunity
@thakurfdn
. Hope I will be able to contribute my bit better in public health journalism by way of this fellowship. Seek support from friends and fellow journalists.
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2. India has been consistently reporting 100-200 cases from last 15-20 days. Last it touched 500 mark in mid-Nov. 1000 in Oct.
So what is the context of ‘145 new cases’? Does IMA want to say 145 is really alarming?
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Forget about independent experts, even trial investigators, who will conduct research for
@ICMRDELHI
, are saying that it is impossible to complete the three phases for
#COVAXIN
by Aug 15. One, whom I spoke to, said may be ICMR does not mean what it means!
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More than 22,000
#Covid_19
cases recorded in India yesterday (7k new cases just a week ago), as per health ministry's update today.
The same evening country's Union home minister was doing this!
(Some
#whole_of_govt
approach this!)
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The
@narendramodi
-led govt would try its best to manipulate your memory so that you forget
#Covid19
(mis) mgmt.
Here’s a piece recounting 2 years of the horror unfolding in India.
As long as I live, I will never forget. Three years to the day I accepted my mother will probably die because I couldn't keep buying cylinders for Rs 85,000. She was in hospital 26 days and survived. I will never forget how every single step of the way we dealt with corruption.
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The letter was sent to
#IIPS
director KS James by Union goverment on July 28 evening.
Yesterday
@thewire_in
had reported on his suspension.
More on what led to his suspension and the events leading to this unprecedented move to follow
@thewire_in
.
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The fact they are not sharing efficiacy data is making them give such statements. Somani: Till date, 22,500 participants have been vaccinated in ph_3.The vaccine has been found to be safe acc to the 'data available'
Now, WHAT IS THAT AVAILABLE DATA?
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Here's
@TheWireScience
earlier piece published on March 2.
COVID-19: India Is the Only Country To Approve Corbevax. But Where’s the Data?
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#Manipur
: Routine immunisation for children has stopped, surgeries and dialysis put on hold, referral to higher health facilities has become a thing of the past. Shortage of meds and restrictions on doctors' movements paralyse healthcare in the state.
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Undoubtedly, rising cases in any country is a concern and hence the need for basic precautions. Yes.
But China’s disease dynamics is far different from rest of the world, including India. Was it rocket science for a body like IMA to understand and say, under its new president?
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The WHO also said it was making available to all countries--the input data that went into modelling, the methodology and the programme code so that they can do a rerun and possibly verify with WHO estimates. Not for once has India done a rerun and come out with alternate data.
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After 4 fruitful yrs at
@down2earthindia
, I have moved on. Grateful to colleagues, some of whom, walked mny extra miles to make tougher times of life appear easier.
Also take this moment to thank everyone here who supported in different capacities in professional journey,so far
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1.Out of all the tests done in India so far, can Dr Gangakhedkar clarify how many individual people been tested,and how many second, third, fourth tests etc have been done?- Some states have announced they will expand testing criteria from ICMR's criteria. Are they allowed?
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We are killing many to avoid and COVID headlines
Newspapers are filled with stories like 👇🏾
These numbers make no sense.
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What non-sense of a poll is this
@TOIMumbai
? This is a que of public health.
#Science
. Not review of a movie or a popular vote for a cafe.
A no of 'think-tanks' flourished during
#Covid
by doing polls. Media also provided them legitimacy. But science doesn't work like this, bro
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All vaccine manufacturers expanded their capacities after a point. ALL. Out of 11 WHO approved vaccines, only
#covaxin
has been suspended due to deficiencies in good manufacturing practises. Therefore it was difficult to make sense of his answer.
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Such massive protest not for anything else but for the cause of
#PublicHealth
!
Rare scenes.
#MadridSeLevanta12F
Huge demonstration in Madrid. More than 250,000 people demonstrate to defend the public health system and protest against its privatization.
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The CM of national capital of India has had to tweet this. This
If helplessness of common people on Twitter seeking help SoS was not enough, here is a CM saying this
Serious oxygen crisis persists in Delhi. I again urge centre to urgently provide oxygen to Delhi. Some hospitals are left with just a few hours of oxygen.
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Minister of Transport of a country claims that
#SARS_CoV_2
is not a natural but artificial virus. The health minister remains silent. It's premier research institute
@ICMRDELHI
doesn't react. The country is in middle of pandemic; would soon overtake China. That country is
#India
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WHO's Samira Asma said an important thing: This exercise was aimed at holding ourselves and our governments accountable. And, to honour those whose life was cut short. The other aim was to inspire nations to invest more in registration systems. But who is listening?
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Next destination:
@TheWireScience
A request: Please keep supporting. Count on guidance of sane voices around me.
At a recent public event, Krishna Ella said that a “negative campaign” against Covaxin by a section of the media had made things “awkward” for the WHO. In her first report as
@TheWireScience
's health reporter,
@Banjotkaur
sets the record straight.
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There are lies.
And, there are lies of this kind.
@TheWireScience
@thewire_in
# vaccines
#SupremeCourtofIndia
#UnionGovt
#COVID19
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5. Who is testing the quality of PPEs which are being delivered to healthcare workers in India? How many healthcare workers have been infected with COVID-19 in the country?
6. By when will the ventilators be delivered for which orders have been placed?
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A paper by the Duke Global Health Institute and the Public Health Foundation of India found costs of ICU hospitalization for COVID-19 are equivalent to nearly 16 mts of work for a typical Indian day laborer or 7-10 mts for salaried or self employed workers
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The optics of this move in the middle of a raging pandemic are not worth a word but I wonder why has
@CMODelhi
not shut religious places, even now??!!! Just why not. And if they are, why are there exceptions. What science; policy is this?
@ArvindKejriwal
@msisodia
Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited Gurudwara Sis Ganj Sahib in Delhi today morning and offered prayers on the 400th Prakash Purab of Guru Teg Bahadur.
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This wasn't the 1st estimate saying India massively missed
#Covid
deaths. Many other studies have said so. Every single time the Indian govt said those studies were faulty. Meanwhile, India, the country with highest mortality, is the only one to dodge WHO data, at least on record
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saying my account is being withheld. Nobody heard me or gave me a chance to respond.
All my posts [debunking myths] are actually fully science-backed and evidence-backed. I’ve done all the analysis [including lab analysis] on my own. They are available for public review..nothing
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India leaves China behind in terms of cases brings out many other facts. Now, India is 11th worst affected country. All of them including Italy, France, Germany, Turkey, Spain, UK, except Brazil, Russia and China are bending the curve or have started doing so. Look at US too
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9. The labs of DBT and CSIR have been allowed to conduct tests. ICMR said they need not take approval. Has it been checked if they have viability to conduct samples for pathogens?
10. Also, ICMR said it will not supply kits to them. So from where will these labs get the kits.
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Lancet's stinging editorial on Indian Media and its Masters: Presenting the current situation in India with a too positive spin not only clouds reality but also hampers vital public health initiatives. Perpetuating unrealistic claims or failing to honestly report negative news..
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