The Serum Institute of India has said it will provide a Covid 19 vaccine for children as young as three years of age within the next six months.
Chief executive Adar Poonawalla said on Wednesday that his company’s Covovax, the Indian version of the US-based based Novavax vaccine for children, is under clinical trial and will be made available next year.
The institute, based in the western city of Pune, was one of the first vaccine makers to receive the government’s emergency nod for the manufacture of Oxford-AstraZeneca's Covishield in January. It has so far produced more than 1.30 billion doses.
“We are going to be launching a vaccine in six months for children all the way down to the age of three,” Mr Poonawala said at a business summit.
“The vaccines will work and protect children … with Omicron, so far, children have not been affected very badly but there is no harm as these vaccines have been proven to be safe and efficacious,” he said.
The head of the world’s largest vaccine manufacturer said Covovax trials had shown excellent results all the way down to the age group of three.
The announcement comes at a time when schools across the country are reopening and the threat of new infections looms due to a surge in Omicron cases.
India has confirmed 60 cases of the highly infectious variant, including in cities such as New Delhi and Mumbai, since early December.
Some health experts and epidemiologists have underscored the need for vaccines to cover children. However, the government has so far only given approval to Zydus Healthcare’s ZyCoV-D vaccine for children aged 12.
In November, the country's health minister said that the government was in no rush to administer Covid-19 vaccines to children and would make a decision based on expert opinion.
The Serum Institute of India received permission to conduct phase 2 and 3 clinical Covovax trials on children between the ages of two and 17. It is currently conducting trails on 920 children between three and 17 years.
The low down
Producers: Uniglobe Entertainment & Vision Films
Director: Namrata Singh Gujral
Cast: Rajkummar Rao, Nargis Fakhri, Bo Derek, Candy Clark
Rating: 2/5
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Farasan Boat: 128km Away from Anchorage
Director: Mowaffaq Alobaid
Stars: Abdulaziz Almadhi, Mohammed Al Akkasi, Ali Al Suhaibani
Rating: 4/5
if you go
Getting there
Etihad (Etihad.com), Emirates (emirates.com) and Air France (www.airfrance.com) fly to Paris’ Charles de Gaulle Airport, from Abu Dhabi and Dubai respectively. Return flights cost from around Dh3,785. It takes about 40 minutes to get from Paris to Compiègne by train, with return tickets costing €19. The Glade of the Armistice is 6.6km east of the railway station.
Staying there
On a handsome, tree-lined street near the Chateau’s park, La Parenthèse du Rond Royal (laparenthesedurondroyal.com) offers spacious b&b accommodation with thoughtful design touches. Lots of natural woods, old fashioned travelling trunks as decoration and multi-nozzle showers are part of the look, while there are free bikes for those who want to cycle to the glade. Prices start at €120 a night.
More information: musee-armistice-14-18.fr ; compiegne-tourisme.fr; uk.france.fr
Dhadak 2
Director: Shazia Iqbal
Starring: Siddhant Chaturvedi, Triptii Dimri
Rating: 1/5
The specs
Engine: 3.5-litre twin-turbo V6
Power: 380hp at 5,800rpm
Torque: 530Nm at 1,300-4,500rpm
Transmission: Eight-speed auto
Price: From Dh299,000 ($81,415)
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Specs
Lexus LX700h specs
Engine: 3.4-litre twin-turbo V6 plus supplementary electric motor
Power: 464hp at 5,200rpm
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Founded over 50 years ago, the National Archives collects valuable historical material relating to the UAE, and is the oldest and richest archive relating to the Arabian Gulf.
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Engine: 3.9-litre twin-turbo V8
Power: 620hp from 5,750-7,500rpm
Torque: 760Nm from 3,000-5,750rpm
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Dubai Bling season three
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The specs
Developer: Ubisoft Montreal / Ubisoft Toronto
Publisher: Ubisoft
Platforms: Playstation 4, Xbox One, Windows
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Types of bank fraud
1) Phishing
Fraudsters send an unsolicited email that appears to be from a financial institution or online retailer. The hoax email requests that you provide sensitive information, often by clicking on to a link leading to a fake website.
2) Smishing
The SMS equivalent of phishing. Fraudsters falsify the telephone number through “text spoofing,” so that it appears to be a genuine text from the bank.
3) Vishing
The telephone equivalent of phishing and smishing. Fraudsters may pose as bank staff, police or government officials. They may persuade the consumer to transfer money or divulge personal information.
4) SIM swap
Fraudsters duplicate the SIM of your mobile number without your knowledge or authorisation, allowing them to conduct financial transactions with your bank.
5) Identity theft
Someone illegally obtains your confidential information, through various ways, such as theft of your wallet, bank and utility bill statements, computer intrusion and social networks.
6) Prize scams
Fraudsters claiming to be authorised representatives from well-known organisations (such as Etisalat, du, Dubai Shopping Festival, Expo2020, Lulu Hypermarket etc) contact victims to tell them they have won a cash prize and request them to share confidential banking details to transfer the prize money.
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Indian tourists can make purchases in UAE using rupee accounts in India through QR-code-based UPI real-time payment systems
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