The Oxford COVID-19 vaccine will be sent for approval to the regulator Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) by a government-appointed panel of experts.
The vaccine is manufactured by the Serum Institute of India, developed by Oxford University and pharma major AstraZeneca, while Bharat Biotech has partnered with the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) for its Covaxin.
On the other side, Pfizer had sought more time to present their data to the panel of experts.
As the threat due to the new mutant coronavirus strain from UK increases, a dry run to check the best way to vaccinate people against the virus and plug loopholes in logistics and training has started in all the states today.
“The preparations are like general elections, where even the booth-level preparations are made. The purpose of the dry run is to be ready for the actual rollout… Potential recipients of vaccine will be informed via SMS. Frontline workers are the priority. After inoculation, digital certificate will also be provided,” NDTV quoted health Minister Harsh Vardhan as saying.
This drive will also test the operational feasibility in the use of CoWIN application in a field environment. CoWIN is a digital platform to roll out and scale up the vaccination drive.
A government-appointed panel of experts on Covid has taken up the applications filed by the Serum Institute of India, Bharat Biotech and Pfizer for the emergency use approval for the coronavirus vaccines.
With the objective of gearing up for the roll-out of COVID19 vaccine across the country, the Central Government has asked all States and UTs to ensure effective preparedness for the vaccine roll-out.