Govt. selects groups at higher risk to be vaccinated on priority

European Union has approved the coronavirus vaccine developed by Pfizer and BioNTech. The first phase of the 27-nation bloc's mass vaccination programme to begin later this week.The EU’s executive commission gave the green light just hours after the European Medicines Agency said the vaccine meets safety and quality standards.The Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said doses will be available for all EU countries, at the same time and on the same conditions. She added that the first batches of the vaccine will be shipped from Pfizer's manufacturing site in Belgium in the next few days, with vaccinations starting on 27th of this month. European Union countries including Germany, France, Austria and Italy have said they plan to start vaccinations shortly after Christmas as Europe tries to catch up with the US and Britain, where inoculations began earlier this month.

-The Government has said that based on the potential availability of vaccines the Government of India has selected the priority groups who will be vaccinated on priority as they are at higher risk. The Health Ministry has come out with a series of frequently asked questions about COVID-19 vaccine on various aspects. The first group includes healthcare workers because they are at high risk of contracting the infection and protecting them helps to sustain essential health services.The vaccination of frontline workers will help in reducing the societal and economic impact by reducing COVID-19 mortalities. The next group to receive COVID-19 vaccine will be persons over 50 years of age and persons under 50 years with comorbid conditions because there is high mortality in this category. The reason for including more than 50 years of age group for vaccination is that it will be able to cover 78 per cent of persons having co-morbidities and thereby reduce mortality on account of COVID-19. More than 50 years of age group is divided into two sub groups. One sub group is 60 years and above, they will be vaccinated first. Second sub group is between 50 to 60 years age group, they will be vaccinated after the first sub group is covered. The vaccination may not be sequential. It can go in parallel for all beneficiaries depending on the availability of the vaccine. 

-The Centre and the World Bank Tuesday signed a USD 500 million project to build safe and green national highway corridors in Rajasthan, Himachal Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Andhra Pradesh. The project will also enhance the capacity of the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways in mainstreaming safety and green technologies.The Green National Highways Corridors Project will support the Road Transport and Highways Ministry to construct 783 kilometres of highways in various geographies by integrating safe and green technology designs such as local and marginal materials, industrial byproducts and other bioengineering solutions. The project will help reduce GHG emissions in the construction and maintenance of highways. Dr C S Mohapatra, Additional Secretary in Department of Economic Affairs, Ministry of Finance stated that this project will set new standards in the construction of safe motorable roads. The selected stretches in the States of Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Rajasthan and Himachal Pradesh will also help improve connectivity and promote economic development.The Government of India has launched many investment programmes in road infrastructure to strengthen and improve logistics performance.

-A Day-at-Sea for members of Odisha Legislative Assembly was conducted onboard ships of the Eastern Fleet of Indian Navy off Paradip on Tuesday. The event is organised by the Eastern Naval Command (ENC) as part of Fifty Glorious Years of victory of the 1971 Indo-Pak War celebrations and aimed to introduce the maritime domain to the peoples' representatives of the Odisha State. 90 MLAs, one Member of Parliament along with officials from the State and District Administration embarked four major combatant ships of the Eastern Fleet under the command of Rear Admiral Sanjay Vatsayan, the Flag Officer Commanding Eastern Fleet. The event was with strict adherence to all COVID-19 Protocols.The distinguished guests embarked onboard ships included the Honourable Speaker Dr.Surjya Narayan Patro, Deputy Speaker Shri Rajnikant Singh, Leader of the Opposition Sri Pradipta Kumar Naik, and ministers among other Honourable Members of the Odisha Legislative Assembly. The Naval Officer-in-Charge (Odisha) was also in attendance.

-Karima Baloch, an activist, who had been vocal about Pakistan Army and government atrocities in Balochistan, has been found dead in Toronto, Canada.Toronto Police had requested for public assistance in locating Karima Baloch whe had went missing on Sunday. However, her family has now confirmed that Karima's body has been found.Karima Baloch, a famous personality in Balochistan, is believed to be the pioneer of women activism there. She had also raised the issue of Balochistan in the United Nations sessions in Switzerland. She was named as one of the world’s 100 most “inspirational and influential” women in 2016. In an interview in May 2019, she had accused Pakistan of taking away the resources and eliminating the people of Balochistan, the province with immense geo-strategic importance and huge untapped natural resource reserves