General vaccine trends in India 14

• Vaccine Tracker: India began the second phase of vaccination against the novel coronavirus on 01 March 2021. According to the health ministry, 10.95 crore persons have been administered at least one dose as of 19 April 2021.

1. Common Misinformation:

• Remdesivir cannot be purchased directly from the Pradhan Mantri Jan Aushadhi Kendras at ₹ 899.
  
• Coconut oil does not cure COVID-19.  
  
• Spreading misinformation on COVID vaccines will be punishable: Tamil Nadu corporation.  
  
• There will be no door-to-door distribution of COVID-19 vaccines nor will individuals below 45 years get a jab.  However, Government has now announced a liberalized policy of vaccine distribution for all those above 18 years of age. 
  
• WHO has not approved any Indian student’s natural/home remedy to cure COVID-19.  
  
• No evidence to prove the COVID-19 vaccine causes heart attacks. 

2. Over performing/common trends in the last week:

• CrowdTangle Insights from the previous week- the post (here) on the death of Tamil actor Vivek died due to COVID-19 vaccine has overperformed by 194.75 times in Telugu and 134.85 times in Marathi.  
  
• The post on Mansoor Ali Khan’s anger on the alleged vaccine-related death of Tamil actor Vivek has overperformed by 77 times.  
  
• The post on Farmers' Union demands government to COVID vaccination centers at protest sites has overperformed by 75.41 times.  
  

3. On-ground surveys on COVID-19:

• According to The Hindu, the rate of COVID-19 vaccinations in India picked up significantly between April 1 and 10. From over 1.8 million average target doses in the last ten days of March, vaccination levels doubled to 3.6 million average daily doses in the first ten days of April 2021.