New Delhi|HL
Panel of experts has submitted its recommendations to the Central Government that which Vaccine will be the first vaccine of Corona in the country. The panel recommended Serum Institute of India (SII) grant conditional approval to Covishield. It is now expected to get approval from the Drugs Controller General of India i.e. DCGI soon.
Earlier media reports had claimed that Covaxin of Bharat Biotech has also been approved by the committee, but no official statement has been made on it yet.
Three companies have ask for approval
So far, Serum Institute of India (SII), Bharat Biotech and Pfizer have applied for emergency use approval in the country. The Serum Institute is producing a vaccine named Kovyshield. It has been developed jointly by Oxford University and pharma company AstraZeneca.
Apart from the serum institute, Bharat Biotech, which manufactures indigenous vaccine covaxin, made a presentation before the panel on Wednesday. At the same time, American company Pfizer has asked for more time to present its data. However, Pfizer has been approved by the WHO for emergency use a day earlier.
Dry run of vaccine will start from January 2nd across the country
After approval from the expert panel, the applications of the companies will go to the Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) for final approval. The government is preparing to start vaccination from this month. For this, a vaccine dry run has to be done across the country tomorrow i.e. on January 2.
Earlier on Thursday, Drug Controller General Dr. VG Somani had said that the new year will bring happiness for us, because then we will have something in our hands. It is believed that soon a vaccine may be approved. India is the second largest country in the world affected by Corona after United States of America. The government has planned to vaccinate 300 million people in the next six to eight months.
