The Indian government is considering reviewing Pfizer Inc and AstraZeneca vaccines for emergency use on an expedited basis, Reuters reported, citing a senior government official. This has raised hopes that vaccination efforts can begin in a few weeks.
“We are in the review process. It is an accelerated review process, which is also there for Serum,” said the government official. “All applications are accelerated. It is the need of the moment.”
Serum Institute, which is manufacturing AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 Oxford vaccine in India, had submitted the first formal application for emergency use approval for the COVID-19 vaccine from AstraZeneca Plc. Serum Institute CEO Adar Poonawalla tweeted that the decision to request emergency use “will save countless lives.”
“As promised, before the end of 2020, Serum Institute India has applied for emergency use authorization for the first vaccine made in India, COVISHIELD. This will save countless lives, and I thank the Government of India and Sri Narendra Modi ji for their invaluable support, “Poonawala tweeted.
According to the ICMR, the serum has already manufactured 40 million doses of the vaccine under the at-risk manufacturing and storage license it obtained from the drug regulator.
The application for emergency authorization in India is one of the first in the world for the AstraZeneca vaccine, which has the largest number of supply offerings in the world.
Pfizer requested authorization for emergency use of its coronavirus vaccine over the weekend, the official said.
Meanwhile, Britain is preparing to become the first country to implement the Pfizer / BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine this week, initially making the vaccine available in hospitals for healthcare workers and the most vulnerable before distributing. stocks to clinics of doctors.
Supplies have started arriving in Britain from Pfizer’s manufacturing site in Belgium. In all, Britain has ordered 40 million doses of the Pfizer vaccine, enough to vaccinate 20 million people. About 800,000 doses are expected to be available during the first week. (With contributions from the agency)
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