India has recorded more than 1.3 million coronavirus cases so far.
New Delhi:
India has come one step closer to obtaining a coronavirus vaccine as two candidates, Covaxin from Hyderabad-based Bharat Biotech and Covishield from the Serum Institute of India, have been recommended by a government-appointed panel to the Controller Drugs General of India (DCGI) for emergencies. use within the last two days. The country has been preparing for the launch of the vaccine for the past four months, Health Minister Harsh Vardhan said on Saturday while reviewing the trial in Delhi. On Saturday there was an “end-to-end drill” on the administration of the vaccine in all states and territories of the union, an exercise that the health minister compared to holding elections. DCGI chief Dr. Venugopal G Somani is expected to share details on the vaccine candidates today at 11am. M.
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Covaxin, India’s first indigenous vaccine developed by Hyderabad-based Biotech with the endorsement of the Indian Council for Medical Research (ICMR) of the higher medical body, was recommended for emergency use by the DCGI expert panel on Saturday. The recommendation comes despite the lack of efficacy data at this time for Covaxin, which has completed only two of the three phases of the trial. The third phase of trials began in November.
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On Friday, the expert panel recommended Covishield, developed by the Pune-based Serum Institute of India in partnership with the University of Oxford and major pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca. Adar Poonawalla, CEO of the Serum Institute, which is said to be the world’s largest vaccine manufacturer, had previously said that “most of the first 50 million doses will go to India.”
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The vaccine “will protect 95 percent of (your) patients,” Pascal Soriot, AstraZeneca CEO, said last week. However, AstraZeneca, a British-Swedish pharmaceutical giant, has yet to release data to confirm these claims. Interim results from Phase III trials published last month showed a 70 percent efficacy rate as the average of two dosing regimens.
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A third vaccine, developed by US pharmaceutical giant Pfizer, had also applied for emergency authorization for fuses and is currently under review by the panel. Sources, however, have said that the company has yet to present its data to the panel.
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About a crore of health workers and 2 crore of frontline workers will receive the vaccine for free in the first phase of implementation, Health Minister Harsh Vardhan said on Saturday.
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“There should be no rumors about the safety of the vaccine … Everything has been verified in detail. Initially, when the polio vaccine was released, even then the rumors had floated. But once it hit the ground, all the people they were sure about safety, “she told reporters
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In Delhi, the vaccine will be provided “at no cost”. “The vaccine will be provided free of charge in Delhi. 1000 centers will be established for this task. 1 lakh of phase 1 people will be vaccinated daily. The Delhi government is fully ready for implementation,” said the Minister of Health. from Delhi. Satyendar Jain tweeted on Saturday.
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India is preparing to launch a vaccine at a time when a new strain of coronavirus, first detected in the UK in September, has prompted a new wave of restrictions around the world. The main medical body ICMR said on Saturday that it has successfully cultivated the new strain of coronavirus. 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.
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The United Kingdom, the United States, China, Russia and several other nations have already started a vaccine launch. More than 4.2 million have been vaccinated in the United States, the AFP news agency reported. In the UK, AstraZenaca expects to vaccinate more than 2 million per week.
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India’s Covid count has risen to 1.03 crore, the second highest number of cases in the world after the United States. More than 99 lakh people have recovered, 1.49 lakh have died after contracting the virus.
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