The topic specialist committee (SEC) is all set to authorise the use of Covishield, the vaccine to fight Covid-19, for emergency use in the nation, sources mentioned on Friday.
The application will now be forwarded to the drug regulator (DCGI) for final approval just before the innoculations start. The SEC is an specialist panel on Covid-19 of the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO). This vaccine has been created by AstraZeneca and will be developed right here by Serum Institute of India (SII).
On Friday, soon after studying SII’s application, the SEC also began reviewing the EUA application by Bharat Biotech for its Covid-19 vaccine — Covaxin — but is however to take a final selection on the matter, sources mentioned.
“Meeting of the SEC is still going on. It will make appropriate recommendations to the DCGI. The final decision will be taken by the DCGI,” the well being ministry mentioned. The SEC, at its final meeting, held on December 30, had asked for time to deliberate on information for SII’s Covishield and Bharat Biotech’s Covaxin.
Additionally, more time was requested on behalf of Pfizer.
On December 30, the UK government authorized the use of the AstraZeneca vaccine, created by scientists at Oxford University, for emergencies soon after a recommendation from the Medicines and Healthcare items Regulatory Agency (MHRA). The MHRA had on Wednesday had authorized the Covid-19 vaccine for human use.
Meanwhile, the government has been working to ideal the delivery mechanism for the vaccine with about 96,000 vaccinators possessing been educated so far. While 4 states had carried out a dry run in December, all states are anticipated to conduct dry runs on January 2 to verify for any glitches in the approach.
“The objective of the dry run for the Covid-19 vaccine introduction is to assess operational feasibility in the use of Co-WIN application in field environment, to test the linkages between planning and implementation and to identify the challenges and guide way forward prior to actual implementation,” the ministry had mentioned.
Though an approval by the DCGI would not make the vaccine accessible for mass delivery, India will have close to sufficient vaccines to cover healthcare and frontline personnel like the police.
In its strategy unveiled in December, the government had mentioned it would prioritise 3 crore healthcare and frontline workers, followed by 27 crore people today above the age of 50 and these with co-morbidities.
SII’s founder Adar Poonawalla had indicated that the vaccine maker is prepared with 50 million doses. In an earlier interview, Poonawalla had mentioned SII would be making about 300 million doses by July.
In December, India had a storage capacity for 30 million doses and the well being secretary had mentioned the government would be adding to this capacity.