The US on Thursday took a huge step in the fight against Covid-19 by kicking off world’s first mass vaccination drive for 12-15 year olds. Till now, US and other countries around the world, including India, were and have been inoculating everyone above the age of 18. The move to inoculate teenagers came after CDC and federal government’s approval to Pfizer-BioTech vaccine. 

‘The vaccine is safe, effective, easy, fast and free’, said Joe Biden, while hailing the move to vaccinate the younger population. He further emphasised that as many as 20K pharmacies are ready to start giving the shots and this is one more giant step in their fight against the pandemic. 

Reports coming in from US suggest that some states such as Georgia have already started vaccinating children. Meanwhile, others are readying to start the vaccination drive. One of the primary challenges that has been observed is vaccine hesitancy. Several parents in the US are waiting it out to book a slot as they view it as experimental. Others are still deciding by weighing in a number of factors. There is also a section of people, including children, who want to get the doses as soon as possible so that life can return to normalcy. 

The decision to roll out the vaccination drive for children is the need of the hour and should be considered by other countries as well. Children are exposed to the virus as much as adults. While some can grow seriously sick, others can unknowingly spread the virus to vulnerable groups. Even in India, children have been testing positive for Covid-19. Hence, it only seems logical to extend the vaccination drive to all sections of the society, including children. 

As states across India report shortage of vaccine, the Centre has unveiled its mega plan to vaccinate everyone by end of 2021. The grand roadmap to vaccinate each and every Indian includes producing about 216 crore vaccines by 2021. The government is already in talks with J&J Pfizer, while Sputnik is expected to hit the Indian market by next week. In total, there are about 8 players in fray to realise the goal of complete immunisation. 

Looking at the current status of vaccines, about 11 crore doses of Covishield will be produced by July, and reach the goal of 75 crore doses by end of 2021. About 2 crore doses of Covaxin will be produced by July and reach the goal of 55 crore doses by end of the year. Bio E and Zydus Cadila are still under phase 3 trials and are expected to produce about 30 crore and 5 crore doses respectively by end of the year. 

BB Nasal and Genova are in phase 1 and phase 2 trials and are expected to produce about 10 crore and 6 crore doses respectively. While Sputnik will be available from next week, the approval is sought for SII-Novavax. 

In an attempt to immediately ramp up the vaccine supply, Zydus Cadila is likely to begin supply in June, Sputnik will be available from next week, Indian institute of science has begin developing vaccine, Bharat Biotech will share Covaxin code. 2 PSUs are already in talks to enter pact to increase Covaxin’s production. The Centre, on the other hand, has increased the gap between 2 Covishield doses to 12-16 weeks. 

On the fifth day of hostilities, Israel has escalated its assault on Gaza, as Palestinian militants continue to fire rockets into Israel. According to Israel’s military, air and ground forces were involved in Friday’s attacks but had not entered Gaza city. The night sky was lit up by explosions from Israeli artillery and airstrikes, according to a video from Gaza City.

Since the fighting began on Monday, 119 people have died in Gaza, and eight have died in Israel. Meanwhile, Jewish and Israeli-Arab groups have been fighting within Israel, prompting the country’s president to issue a warning about civil war. Defence Minister Benny Gantz has ordered a “massive reinforcement” of security forces to quell the internal unrest, which has resulted in the arrest of over 400 people.

The violence in Gaza and Israel this week is the worst since 2014. It was sparked by weeks of Israeli-Palestinian tension in East Jerusalem, which resulted in clashes at a holy site revered by Muslims and Jews. The Israeli military said it had carried out an overnight operation to destroy a network of Hamas tunnels known as “the metro,” but no troops had entered Gaza. It went on to say that 220 more projectiles were fired from Gaza on Thursday evening and Friday morning. This escalated into a never-ending barrage of Palestinian rocket fire and Israeli airstrikes.

Amid a barrage of rockets fired from Gaza by Hamas and other Palestinian groups, US President Joe Biden declared that “Israel has a right to defend itself.” During the days-long outbreak of violence that has killed dozens, Biden says he spoke with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Earlier, On Wednesday, the US had sent an envoy to Israel amid the harrowing violence in the country.

What triggered the violence?

Days of escalating clashes between Palestinians and Israeli police at a holy hilltop compound in East Jerusalem sparked the violent fighting between Israel and Hamas. The site is revered by Muslims, who refer to it as the Haram al-Sharif (Noble Sanctuary), and Jews, who refer to it as the Temple Mount. Hamas demanded that Israel remove police from the area as well as from the nearby predominantly Arab district of Sheikh Jarrah, where Palestinian families are being evicted by Jewish settlers. When Hamas’ ultimatum went unheeded, it launched rockets. Palestinian rage had already been stoked by weeks of rising tension in East Jerusalem, exacerbated by a series of clashes with police since the beginning of Ramadan in Mid- April. It was fueled further by the threat of Jewish settlers evicting Palestinian families from their homes in East Jerusalem, as well as Israel’s annual commemoration of its capture of East Jerusalem in the 1967 Middle East war, known as Jerusalem Day.