New Delhi, January 1, 2021
The SII or the Serum Institute of India, that is making Covishield, the vaccine that has been developed by the Oxford University and AstraZeneca the reputed pharma company has been given the nod. The final decision rests with the regulator, the DCGI (Drugs Controller General of India) is now awaited.
SII or the Serum Institute of India has made the Oxford Covid -19 vaccine that is now being sent to DCGI for the final go-ahead, by a panel of experts. These experts have been appointed by the government. The other vaccine, Covaxin is being developed under the partnership of Bharat Biotech and ICMR or the Indian Council of Medical Research.
The decision in favor of SII was made after both the groups had made their presentations on this Wednesday. More time had been sought by Pfizer for making their presentation. The Government is looking at the possibility of starting the vaccine shots from next month. The final clearance from DCGI is the only hurdle as of now in its implementation.
A dry run of the vaccinations has been scheduled in all the states tomorrow. The Health Minister Harsh Vardhan will be personally monitoring and analyzing this dry run in Delhi.
Large scale preparations have been made for the same. These preparations are similar to an election preparation with booths and so on. This will be like a dress rehearsal before the final mass rollout.
The plan of the Government is to vaccinate a large number of 30 crores Indians in a span of 6 to 8 months. It was disclosed by reliable sources that the Government and the Serum Institute have yet to sign a formal purchase agreement.
The Chief Executive officer of SII, Adar Poonawalla has said that 50 million doses of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine have been made and they are hopeful of sending out a minimum of 100 million shots by the month of March 2021.
