Bihar Affairs
Bihar set to procure Covishield from SII
In the wake of the Centre allowing the states to buy Covid Vaccines directly from the manufacturers, the Bihar government has decided to procure Covishield from Serum Institute of India (SII), Pune, for vaccinating people above the age of 18 from May 1. CM Nitish Kumar has already announced that free Covid vaccines for everyone above 18.
Altogether 5.46crore people in the 18-44 age group have been identified for vaccination in the next phase starting May 1. As SII has announced its rates for procurement by states, we have decided to place our first order ahead of the commencement of vaccination of people above the age of 18.
the Centre announced its strategy for phase-3 of vaccination against Covid, which included inoculation of everyone above 18. It stated that vaccine manufacturers would supply 50% of their monthly production to the central government and they would be free to supply the remaining 50% to the state governments and in the open market (private hospitals). Manufacturers have also been asked to declare their prices for the supply to state governments and open markets.
SII announced that it will charge Rs400 per dose for Covishield from the state and Rs600 per dose from private hospitals from May 1, when open for all adults.
National and International Affairs
Gk bit : Difference between Chaff and Flares:
Both chaff & flares are defensive countermeasures deployed by using navy aircraft. The cause is to confuse radar-guided or infrared-guided anti-plane missiles fired so that they may want to be diverted.
The Chaff is composed of many small aluminium or zinc lined fibres saved on-board the plane in tubes. In case the plane feels threatened by means of any radar monitoring missiles, chaff is ejected into the turbulent wake of air at the back of the plane.
Flares on being fired grant an alternate strong IR (Infrared) source to heat-seeking anti-air missiles. Thus they are lured away from the aircraft.