The Comptroller General of Drugs of India (DCGI) on Sunday gave emergency use approval to COVISHIELD, the coronavirus
vaccine developed by Bharat Biotech, and the other by AstraZeneca and the University of Oxford. Shortly after the vaccine announcement, Serum Institute of India Executive Director Adar Poonawalla wished the people of the country a “Happy New Year”.
COVISHIELD will become India’s first vaccine against the pandemic.
Poonawalla made the big announcement on Twitter Sunday morning, saying, “Happy New Year everyone! All the risks that @SerumInstIndia took in storing the vaccine have finally paid off. COVISHIELD, the first from India COVID-19 the vaccine is approved, safe, effective and ready to be implemented in the coming weeks (SIC), ”he wrote on Twitter.
The DCGI held a press conference at 11 a.m. Sunday on the COVID-19 vaccine in India. “The … vaccines from the Serum Institute (AstraZeneca / Oxford vaccine) and Bharat Biotech are being approved for restricted use in emergency situations,” DCGI VG Somani said in a briefing.
The approval is expected to kick off one of the world’s largest vaccination campaigns in the coming days in the country of 1.3 billion people.
India is the second most infected nation in the world with more than 10.3 million cases and almost 150,000 deaths.
In the first phase, the mass vaccination campaign will cover almost the same number of people as the entire US population. The central government has identified 300 million people to receive the first doses of the vaccine. The priority group is made up of 30 million health workers, police, soldiers and volunteers, and 270 million vulnerable people, mostly citizens over 50 years of age and another 10 million with serious comorbidities.
When it comes to the actual vaccination process, India already has a vast network established under its Universal Immunization Program, inoculating about 55 million people per year. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has also suggested that the country can draw on its experience in organizing the largest democratic elections in the world, adopting a comprehensive society approach that involves the participation of states, districts, civil society, citizens and experts.
Meanwhile, India has successfully cultivated the new coronavirus strain, which originated in the United Kingdom, the Indian Council for Medical Research (ICMR) said on Saturday. In a tweet, the ICMR stated that no country has yet reported on the successful isolation and cultivation of the UK variant of SARS-CoV-2.
The research body said ICMR-NIV scientists used vero cell lines to grow the variant of the virus in the UK. The UK had recently announced that the new strain of the virus identified in its population was up to 70% more infectious. A total of 29 people have tested positive for the new British variant of SARS-CoV-2 in India so far, the Union Health Ministry said on Friday.
.
