As promised, before the end of 2020, Serum Institute has applied for emergency use authorisation for the first made-in-India Covid-19 vaccine, Covishield, Adar Poonawalla, the CEO of Serum Institute of India, tweeted on Monday, LiveMint reported.
Poonawalla has confirmed that Serum Institute of India has applied for emergency use authorisation for the Covishield, according to the Mint report.
"As promised, before the end of 2020, @SerumInstIndia has applied for emergency use authorisation for the first made-in-India vaccine, COVISHIELD. This will save countless lives, and I thank the Government of India and Sri@narendramodiji for their invaluable support," said the Serum Institute of India CEO in his tweet.
Serum Institute of India, the world's largest vaccine producer by volume, had sought emergency use authorisation in the South Asian country of 130 billion for AstraZeneca Plc's Covid-19 vaccine on Sunday, Press Trust of India had reported earlier, citing sources.
The company applied to the Drugs Controller General of India, citing unmet medical needs due to the pandemic and in the interest of the public at large, the report said. The move has come close on the heels of Pfizer Inc applying for a similar authorisation of its coronavirus vaccine in India on Saturday.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited the Serum Institute of India facility in Pune in late November to review vaccine development.
"Had a good interaction with the team at Serum Institute of India. They shared details about their progress so far on how they plan to further ramp up vaccine manufacturing. Also took a look at their manufacturing facility," PM Modi had tweeted.
Serum Institute, the world's largest vaccine manufacturer, has entered into a collaboration with the University of Oxford and AstraZeneca to manufacture the vaccine.
This will be a landmark week for global fight against the novel coronavirus.
From Tuesday, the UK is all set to administer Pfizer Inc.'s covid vaccine while the US regulator is in all likelihood could approve the Pfizer vaccine for emergency use as early as Thursday.
According to the ICMR, the SII has already manufactured 40 million doses of the vaccine under the at-risk manufacturing and stockpiling license it obtained from the DCGI.
The Oxford covid vaccine is logistically feasible for distribution in India since it could be stored at two to eight degrees Celsius, say experts.
© 2024 - All Rights with The Financial Express
