India all set to get first Covid Vaccine

Coronavirus Vaccine in India: India on Friday took a step closer to licensing a vaccine against Covid-19 as an expert panel appointed by the Union government recommended that the apex drug regulator grant emergency use authorisation (EUA) to the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine.

The approval by the Subject Expert Committee of the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO) paves the way for mass immunisation with the vaccine to begin within the next few days. The government wants to start administering the vaccine soon, most likely by Wednesday, news agency Reuters reported, quoting an unnamed official source. An official announcement is expected later in the day.

More than 5-crore doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine have already been stockpiled by its local manufacturer, Serum Institute of India (SII), and sources said the shots could start to be transported from cold storage to all states as early as Saturday, when a country-wide dry run of the vaccination programme will also be held.

India, which has the world's second highest number of Covid-19 infections after the United States, plans to inoculate 30 crore people in the next six to eight months. The affordable Oxford vaccine is its biggest hope.

Though the Union government has not yet signed a purchase agreement with the Serum Institute, the company says it will focus on its home market first, and then exports.

"For the Government of India, Covishield (Oxford vaccine) will cost about USD3 per dose, so USD6 (Rs 440) per person, but for the private market, it will cost around Rs 700-800,"

Serum Institute of India CEO Adar Poonawalla said on Friday.