“You will hear good news from the UK very soon,” Serum CEO Adar Poonawalla told reporters, adding that approval from the Indian regulator would likely come shortly.
The Pune-based company, which applied to the Comptroller General of Medicines of India (DCGI) for an emergency authorization, recently submitted a clinical trial update for “Covishield”, the local name for the AstraZeneca vaccine.
Government sources said the data presented by Serum was considered “satisfactory”, indicating that the vaccine could be approved soon.
“We have already manufactured between 40 and 50 million doses of the vaccine. The launch of the vaccine is expected to be a bit slow in the initial phase due to logistical problems and is expected to recover once things are sorted out.” Poonawalla said.
He noted that the company plans to increase vaccine production to 100 million doses per month by March next year with the launch of the third IBS manufacturing plant.
Poonawalla said the Oxford / AstraZeneca vaccine could soon be approved in the UK. By next month, the vaccine can also be approved in India, he noted.
The CEO of SII said that India would produce most of the vaccines next year and that a portion of the production will also go to other markets as part of Covax, a global initiative to ensure rapid and equitable access to Covid-19 vaccines for all countries, regardless of income level.
“Some shortages can be expected in the first six months. Things will ease in August-September as other manufacturers will start supplying as well,” he added.
India wants to administer 600 million coronavirus injections in the next six to eight months starting in January. The country’s drug regulator is also considering similar approvals for the Pfizer / BioNTech vaccine and another developed by India’s Bharat Biotech.
The government plans to inoculate around 30 crore of “priority” population in the first phase of the vaccination campaign.
This will include healthcare and front-line workers and those most at risk for infection, such as people over 50 and others under 50, but with severe comorbidities that can lower immunity and increase the chances of death. due to Covid-19 infection.
Drills
Meanwhile, four states – Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Gujarat, and Punjab – began a trial of vaccine delivery systems on Monday, and health authorities verified everything from their technology platforms to the storage infrastructure that will be needed to inoculate. to millions.
“The exercise is basically a drill for our health workers on how to run the whole vaccination process and system,” Gujarat Health Commissioner Jaiprakash Shivahare told Reuters.
State health officials had set up 19 vaccination centers, each with 25 fictitious beneficiaries played by health workers, that would help test the entire inoculation sequence, including online monitoring systems, Shivahare said.
The government has also trained the participants who will administer the vaccine.
(With inputs from agencies)
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