Drugs Controller General of India chief VG Somani on Sunday announced that the coronavirus vaccines of the Serum Institute of India and Bha...
Drugs Controller General of India chief VG Somani on Sunday announced that the coronavirus vaccines of the Serum Institute of India and Bharat Biotech have been approved for emergency use in the country. These are first vaccines to be approved in India.
Emergency use authorisation paves the way for vaccine roll out in India, which is the world’s second worst affected country by the pandemic after the United States.
This came a day after the Subject Expert Committee of Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation recommended the two coronavirus vaccines – Covaxin and Covishield – for emergency use.
Covaxin is the country’s first indigenous vaccine developed by Bharat Biotech, a company based in Hyderabad, with backing from the Indian Council of Medical Research and the National Institute of Virology. In a statement, the health ministry said that it has been recommended for “restricted use in emergency situation, subject to multiple regulatory conditionalities”. However, not much is known about the safety and efficacy of this vaccine in clinical trials.
The Serum Institute is the local maker of Covishield, the vaccine developed by Oxford University and pharmaceuticals company AstraZeneca. The shot was given permission for “restricted emergency use”, subject to multiple regulatory conditions.
The government-appointed panel of experts...
