• Vaccine Tracker: India began the second phase of vaccination against the novel coronavirus on 01 March 2021. According to the health ministry, as of 09 August 2021, 39.56 crore persons have been administered at least one dose of the vaccine

1. Common Misinformation/Prevalence of Vaccine Hesitancy:

• 'Fake news and false narrative': Bharat Biotech on concerns over Covaxin efficacy, low production.
• Fake: Data twisted to claim high toll among vaccinated.
• Fact Check: US to detain non-vaccinated people in camps? Satire article is taken seriously.
• Pfizer CEO received his second dose of ‘Pfizer/BioNTech’ COVID-19 vaccine in March 2021.
• Tamil Nadu survey shows COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy highest among elderly.
• By criticizing rural residents for COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy, India is playing ‘blame the victim’.
• Ordering publication of data on vaccine trials, side-effects could add to hesitancy, says SC.
• Misinformation linked to COVID-19 vaccines is still a concern in India.
• How faith and politics mix with vaccines.
• India’s COVID R-value rising to 1 is a matter of concern, says AIIMS chief.

2. Countering vaccine hesitancy- Success Stories/strategies to reduce hesitancy:

• Sanjeevani campaign achieves new milestones.

• A tribal village in Kerala’s Wayanad is India’s first fully vaccinated hamlet.

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

• CrowdTangle Insights from the previous week- the post on the case against Mammootty and Ramesh Pisharadi owing to the violation of COVID-19 guidelines has overperformed by 69.22 times.
• The post on CBSE Class X results: Bhopal girl, who lost both her parents to COVID-19, scores 99.8% has overperformed by 65.77 times.
• The post on Karnataka schools will start from August 23 has been announced by CM Basavaraj Bommai amidst the fear of COVID-19 third wave has overperformed by 55.44 times on Instagram.

4. On-ground surveys on COVID-19/Research studies on COVID-19 vaccines efficacy

• India’s COVID-19 deaths several times official estimates: survey.
• Covishield-Covaxin mix gives results, says medical body, seeks more study.
• States with the lowest fatalities are also those with the lowest fresh cases, says ICMR survey.
• Post COVID-19 survey on the elderly reveals that 90 percent of them have lost hope for a better tomorrow.
• COVID-19 | 48% parents want schools to reopen only after their children are vaccinated: Survey.
• Lockdown posed major healthcare hurdles for 2/3rd of non-COVID patients, finds ICMR study.