BHUBANESWAR l Saturday l january 16, 2021 l `7.00 l PAGES 14 l JEYPORE EDITION Army chief warns China, Pak not to test forces’ patience In a warning to China, Army Chief Gen M M Naravane said on Friday that no one should make the mistake of testing India’s patience Galwan heroes’ Sacrifice won’t go waste 400 pak terrorists waiting at loc The general said India is committed to resolving the eight-month-long military standoff with China through talks. In his address at the Army Day parade in Delhi, Gen Naravane said the sacrifice of the ‘Galwan heroes’ in eastern Ladakh in June last year will not go waste and that the Indian Army will not allow any harm to the country’s sovereignty and security ■ ■ Gen Naravane said Pakistan continues to shelter terrorists and 300-400 of them are waiting in training camps on the Pakistani side of the LoC to infiltrate into India For the first time, drone operations featured at the Army Day parade held in Delhi Cantonment on Friday | P9 200 Militants killed in counter-terror operations and on LoC last year CHENNAI ■ MADURAI ■ VIJAYAWADA ■ BENGALURU ■ KOCHI ■ HYDERABAD ■ VISAKHAPATNAM ■ COIMBATORE ■ KOZHIKODE ■ THIRUVANANTHAPURAM ■ BELAGAVI ■ BHUBANESWAR ■ SHIVAMOgGA ■ MANGALURU ■ TIRUPATI ■ TIRUCHY ■ TIRUNELVELI ■ SAMBALPUR ■ HUBBALLI ■ DHARMAPURI ■ KOTTAYAM ■ KANNUR ■ VILLUPURAM ■ KOLLAM ■ WARANGAL ■ TADEPALLIGUDEM ■ NAGAPATTINAM ■ THRISSUR ■ KALABURAGI First jab today as mother of all vax drives begins 100 frontline beneficiaries to get inoculated at each of the 3,006 centres across India after Modi launches programme at 10.30 am E x p r e s s Ne w s Se r v i c e @ New Delhi India will roll out the world’s biggest vaccination programme on Saturday by inoculating over three lakh healthcare workers against Covid-19, which brought the entire country, and the world, to a halt for much of last year. A total of 3,006 vaccination centres across all states and union territories will be virtually connected as Prime Minister Narendra Modi will launch the drive at 10.30 am, with 100 beneficiaries getting the shots at each site on the first day . PM Modi said the country will enter a “decisive phase” in the fight against the coronavir us pandemic on Saturday . Amid concerns over the efficacy of the indigenously developed Covaxin vaccine by Bharat Biotech, Union health minister Harsh Vardhan on Friday reiterated that both Covaxin and Covishield, manufactured by Pune-based Serum Institute, have “proven safety and immunogenicity records”. These two vaccines will be the “most important tool” to control the pandemic, he added. “Tomorrow is an important day... it is the last phase of the battle against coronavirus. This is probably the beginning of the end of Covid,” he said. The minister, however, cautioned that even after vaccination, people should not lower their guard and must follow Covidappropriate behaviour. The immunisation drive will begin with healthcare workers, both in government and private sectors, getting the shots. While reviewing the preparation of the launch, Vardhan suggested that the CoWIN software be pre-populated with non-prioritised beneficiaries by seeding it with electoral database, in addition to other documents for registration. CoWIN, short for Covid Vaccine Intelligence Network, is an online platform meant to facilitate real-time information of vaccine stocks, storage temperature and individualised tracking of beneficiaries for Covid-19 vaccine. It will also assist programme managers track beneficiary coverage, beneficiary dropouts, sessions planned versus sessions held and vaccine utilisation. The minister also advised the administrative machinery to go all out to counter the misinformation campaign being spread by vested interests, said a statement by the ministry . 16k likely to get the shot on 1st day in Odisha H e m a n t K u m a r R o u t @ Bhubaneswar The D-day for the Covid-19 vaccine drive has finally arrived. As many as 16,100 healthcare workers and ICDS functionaries are likely to receive the shots on the first day as the State government is all set to kick off the drive across all districts. Excitement and apprehensions ran high among the frontline healthcare workers as the system generated SMS from the Covid Vaccine Intelligence Network (Co-WIN), centrally monitored by the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, started landing on their cell phones on Friday . “I was very excited to receive the vaccine. I have rendered my service all along the pandemic. Neither did I hesitate then nor will I in future. The vaccine I hope will give me the confidence to work without fear. This will mark the end of the pandemic,” said Biranchi Nayak, a safai karmachari at the Capital Hospital, here. Nayak is one among a few sweepers at the City hospital who have been selected to get the first jab of Covaxin. Vaccination Process Enrolled beneficiaries to get SMS from Co-Win with time and date of vaccination Beneficiary need to show the SMS along with his/her ID proof Vaccination officer to verify beneficiary details Recipient to be kept under observation for 30 minutes after vaccination He/she will get another SMS with details of appointment for second dose Although the hospital authorities have prepared a list of 100 beneficiaries, including doctors, to whom SMS from the CoWIN app has been sent, the safai karmachari will be the first person to get the vaccine. The State government has made elaborate preparations for the launch of vaccination drive across 161 session sites, including the one at AIIMSBhubaneswar, which was added at the last minute. In the Capital city, every selected person will received Covaxin shots. They will have to sign a consent letter for receiving the vaccine as per the stipulations of the Centre. Director of Family Welfare Dr Bijay Kumar Panigrahy said the required vaccine vials have already been dispatched to all the session sites. “We are fully prepared,” he said. The Collectors and CDMOs have been communicated with the latest guiding principles issued by the Centre. People aged below 18 years, pregnant and nursing women and those who are under treatment or have taken any kind of vaccine in last 14 days won’t be vaccinated. CONTINUED ON: P7 Go Corona GO Artist Sudarsan Pattnaik creates a sand sculpture on the eve of commencement of Covid-19 vaccination drive at Puri beach on Friday | PTI Chilika houses India’s 22% seagrass area, 5 species found Asia’s largest brackish water lagoon Chilika is now home to 22 per cent of India’s seagrass area, revealed the fourth flora and fauna survey on Friday. The survey conducted by the Chilika Development Authority (CDA) to assess the biodiversity of the lagoon eco-system has found that the area of seagrass has increased by 3 km in a year | P3 Centre-farmer talks fail, next meeting on january 19 cuss their problems with the farm laws clause-wise. The farmers said no. They also turned down the governThe ninth round of talks between ment’s request to meet the panel farmers’ unions and the Centre on Fri- formed by the Supreme Court. day remained inconclusive but both The apex court had on January 12 sides agreed to meet again stayed implementation of NIA raids next Tuesday in a bid to the laws and set up a panel to break the deadlock over figure in talks talk to both the striking three contentious far m Farmers raised the farmers and the governlaws. issue of NIA raids ment. The farm unions have “The government urged welcomed the stay but reon transporters farmers to form an informal fused to meet the panel saysupporting the group among themselves to ing it’s pro-government. The agitation, said prepare concrete proposals farmers have reiterated they Joginder Singh to be discussed in the next Ugrahan, president, won’t end their protest until meeting,” Agriculture Minthe three laws are withdrawn BKU (Ektaister Narendra Singh Tomar fully The next round of talks . Ugrahan) said. However, the unions rewould be significant as the jected the suggestion. SC-appointed committee will be Harinder Singh Lakhowal, general present in the meeting. One of the secretary of Bharatiya Kisan Union, panel members, Bhupinder Singh Punjab (Lakhowal group) said the Mann, had on Thursday recused himP9 Centre asked the union leaders to dis- self from the committee.  Express news service @ New Delhi / Chandigarh TN docs to insist on CoVishield S u m i S u k a n ya D u t ta @ New Delhi While the Centre has given two Covid-19 vaccines, Covishield and Covaxin, accelerated approvals and a level playing field though the latter is yet to prove its efficacy sections , of doctors are wary as they are first in line to get the jab , along with other healthcare workers. In fact, the Tamil Nadu Government Doctors’ Association (TNGDA), a group of 20,000 healthcare professionals, has circulated an internal advisory asking its members to “insist on Covishield” when they are called for immunisation. The circular advises that while all practising doctors should go for vaccination, they should “insist on Covishield till the Covaxin phase 3 results are out”. In Tamil Nadu, both vaccines have been stocked, but the Centre has disallowed beneficiaries from picking and choosing their jab. “While our circular is advisory in nature, we do feel that it is much better to go for a vaccine whose efficacy is wellproven through a large-scale clinical trial,” N Ravishankar, secretary of the TNGDA told this newspaper. The Drug Controller General of India has permitted restricted emergency use to Covishield, developed by Oxford-AstraZeneca, and Covaxin by Bharat Biotech. But the approval to Covaxin invited massive criticism as its phase 3 trial is yet to be over. The Centre, however, has procured 1.1 crore doses of Covishield and 55 lakh doses of Covaxin for the first phase of vaccination. While most states received only Covishield, 11 — Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Bihar, Delhi, Haryana, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Odisha, Rajasthan, UP and TN — have been sent both. In many places, like in Delhi, Covaxin can be administered only in centrally-run institutions, a fact that is being resented by government doctors. Doctors at Delhi’s AIIMS and Safdarjung hospitals have also expressed unhappiness over the fact that they have received only Covaxin and that they may be forced to take the jabs in order to establish public trust. express read ‘Capitol rioters were ready to kill’ Exports, imports grow in Dec 2020 Washington: US Federal prosecutors on Friday offered the most chilling description yet of Capitol rioters, that their intention was “to capture and assassinate elected officials”. The view was included in a memo seeking to keep Jacob Anthony Chansley, who rallied people inside the Capitol using a bullhorn, in detention | P11 New Delhi: Exports rose marginally to $27.15 bn in December 2020, while imports surged 7.5% to $42.59 billion. Exports were valued at $27.11 billion in December 2019 while imports totalled $39.59 billion. The trade deficit for December 2020 was estimated at $15.44 billion against $12.49 billion in December 2019 | P12