India closer to Covid-19 vaccine, Drug Controller hints for approval

New Delhi: Terming the approval for Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine for use in the UK as a “big step forward”, AIIMS Delhi Director Dr Randeep Guleria on Wednesday said that India will have the COVID-19 vaccine within days.

“This is very good news that AstraZeneca got approval for its vaccine by UK regulatory authorities. They have robust data and in India and the same vaccine is being developed by the Serum Institute of India. This is a big step forward not only for India but many parts of the world,” Guleria told ANI in an interview.

“This vaccine can be stored at two to eight degrees centigrade. Therefore it would be easy to store and transportation. Storage can be done using a simple fridge rather than what is required in the Pfizer vaccine of minus 70 degrees centigrade,” All India Institute Of Medical Sciences, New Delhi Director Dr Guleria said.

However, following hours of data analysis, the Subject Expert Committee in the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO) decided to meet again on January 1 for further analysis of the additional information supplied by Serum Institute and Bharat Biotech. A statement issued by the Union Health Ministry confirmed that a meeting of the expert panel would be held on Friday. ‘’The analysis of the additional data and information is going on,’’ it said.

On the issue of COVID-19 vaccination drive in India, Dr Randeep Guleria , “India to roll out COVID-19 vaccines for a large part of the country and therefore we will see the vaccine available in our country in the very near future.”

When asked about how much time is needed for the roll-out of COVID vaccine in the country, Dr Guleria said, “Now, we have a data, and Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine has been approved based on the studies in UK, Brazil and South Africa. There is also data from Serum Institute of India (SII). I think, once the data is shown to the regulatory authority, we should get approval for the vaccine in the county within a few days. I would say days rather than weeks or months.”

Dr Guleria, who is a member of the national task force on Covid-19 management, said that the country has a “robust plan as far as the vaccination is concerned”.

“We vaccinate children and pregnant women as part of our universal immunization program. Using the same platform to store vaccines at 2 to 8 degrees centigrade, it will be easier for us to store COVID-19 vaccines,” he added while emphasising on the easy storage process in comparison to Pfizer vaccine of minus 70 degrees centigrade.

Meanwhile, the Pune-based Serum Institute of India has sought emergency approval for the vaccine–Covishield– developed along with global pharma giant AstraZeneca and Oxford University.

In what could be termed as New Year gift, Adar Poonawalla, Chief Executive Officer, Serum Institute of India on Monday said 40-50 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine have already been stockpiled, adding that Covishield rollout is expected in January.