After Eleven months of the first case of covid-19 detected in India, on Sunday DCGI Drug Controller General of India V.G. Somani has given approval to Covishield vaccine and Bharat Biotech’s ‘Covaxin’ for emergency use, paving the way for their roll-out and administration to millions.
The approval of the vaccine has given a major relief to India which is having the second-highest number of infected cases in the world after the United States of America. The central government has planned to vaccinate nearly more the 30 crore people in the first phase of vaccinating.
The vaccine will be first given to one crore healthcare worker, two crore essential and frontline workers, and 27 crores elderly mostly above the age of 50.
The Subject Expert Committee, tasked with examining the vaccine proposals and had recommended Oxford-Astra Zeneca’s ‘Covishield’ and Bharat Biotech’s ‘Covaxin’ for the emergency use approval on January 1 and 2, respectively. The final approval was to be taken by the DCGI.
The expert panel has recommended granting permission for restricted emergency use of ‘Covaxin’ in “public interest as an abundant precaution, in clinical trial mode, especially in the context of infection by mutant strains.
Hyderabad-based Bharat Biotech has collaborated with the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) for ‘Covaxin’. while SII Serum Institute of India has collaborated with Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine for conducting its manufacturing and clinical trials of ‘Covishield’.
The UK and Argentina have already given approval to the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine. More than five crore doses of the vaccine have already been store up by its manufacturer, Serum Institute of India.
Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine will be playing a major role in India’s plan to vaccinate its population against coronavirus due to several factors — low-cost, ease of transport, and storage.
SII Serum Institute of India this week said it has a store up of 40-50 million doses of its Covid-19 vaccine. India is likely to receive a majority of its doses.
Bharat Biotech’s Covaxin is India’s first indigenous vaccine for covid 19. This vaccine is being developed in collaboration with the Indian Council of Medical Research (IMRC) and the National Institute of Virology (NIV).
