The Covid pandemic has affected more than 6.38 million people worldwide (Representative)
Highlight
- The Pfizer vaccine has been approved by the UK and will be launched soon
- For the vaccine to be allowed in India, you need to pass the clinical trials here
- Pfizer or its associated companies have not requested to conduct trials in India
New Delhi:
The coronavirus vaccine developed by US pharmaceutical giant Pfizer, which was approved by the UK today and will launch to the public early next week, is unlikely to be available in India at this time, sources told NDTV.
For a vaccine to be allowed in India, it must approve clinical trials here, and sources said neither Pfizer nor its partner companies had requested to conduct such trials. This means that even if Pfizer partners with an Indian company now, it will take some time for the vaccine to be available in the country.
The government held talks with Pfizer in August, but there has been no progress since then, the sources said, adding that in India the focus is on five other candidates, including one developed by AstraZeneca and the University of Oxford and produced by Serum. based in Pune. Institute.
Last week, AstraZeneca said its candidate, Covishield, could be around 90 percent effective when following one of the two dosing regimens. The mean efficacy of two regimens was 70%.
Covishield, which tops the list of candidate vaccines likely to be launched in India, will be drawn up by the Serum Institute, which has pledged to make available at least 100 million doses by the end of January and hundreds of millions by the end of January. . end of February.
Serum Institute executive director Adar Poonawalla said Sunday that he would apply to the center for an emergency use license within three weeks.
The AstraZeneca candidate vaccine, and that of Bharat Biotech, are being closely monitored, particularly by the poorest countries, as they are expected to be significantly cheaper than rivals and more stable.
The last point means that transport and storage (they can be stored at normal refrigerator temperatures) will be easier, something vital for India, as access to remote areas can make vaccine administration challenging.
The Pfizer vaccine (which has been approved by the UK) reported an efficacy rate of more than 90 percent. Another global vaccine candidate, developed by Moderna Inc., which has also not applied for permission to conduct clinical trials in India, reported 94.1 percent.
Over the past 10 days, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has held multiple meetings with pharmaceutical companies, vaccine developers and manufacturers (including the Serum Institute), and government officials to review efforts to create and distribute a coronavirus vaccine.
The race to produce viable Covid vaccines grows in importance and urgency with each passing day; The new coronavirus has devastated the world’s population, killing nearly 14.8 million people since the pandemic broke out in China in December last year.
In India, the second worst affected country, 95 lakh cases have been reported so far, of which around 4.28 lakh are active cases and more than 1.38 lakh are virus-related deaths.
With input from Reuters
.
