Oxford, Bharat Biotech vaccines fail to get government nod

New Delhi: The Serum Institute of India and Bharat Biotech were not granted emergency use authorization (EUA) for their Covid-19 vaccines on Wednesday, sources said, adding that the regulator has sought additional information from the vaccine makers.

The SII had earlier applied for EUA for the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine which was granted approval in the United Kingdom earlier on Wednesday, while Bharat Biotech had sought the nod for India's indigenous vaccine named Covaxin.

India, which has the world's second highest number of Covid-19 infections in the world after the United States, plans to inoculate 300 million people in the next six to eight months and the affordable Oxford vaccine is its biggest hope.

Though the Union government has not yet signed a purchase agreement with SII, the company says it will focus on its home market first, and then exports, mainly to South Asian countries and Africa.

Earlier in the day, Britain became the first country in the world to approve a coronavirus vaccine developed by Oxford University and AstraZeneca as it battles a major winter surge driven by a new, highly contagious variant of the virus.

The Serum Institute of India (SII) termed the approval for Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine in the UK as encouraging news and said that the company would now wait for the final nod for the medication in India.