COVISHIELD vaccine gets SEC’s nod for emergency approval in India

Ebangla Bureau

AN  expert panel has recommended affordable Oxford vaccine to the drugs regulator DGCI for India in the fight against the pandemic on the first day of the new year. Oxford COVID-19 vaccine manufactured by the Serum Institute of India sent for approval to the regulator Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) by a government-appointed panel of experts, sources said. Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) V.G. Somani , will give final nod on approval of a COVID-19 vaccine in India, the health ministry said, reported  Mint. Serum Institute of India joined hands with AstraZeneca to manufacture doses of COVID-19 vaccine developed by the University of Oxford. Pune-based drug maker signed an agreement to produce 1 billion doses of Oxford-AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine for low-and-middle income countries. The Serum Institute of India (SII) is making the vaccine Covishield developed by Oxford University and pharma major AstraZeneca, while Bharat Biotech has partnered with the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) for its Covaxin. The meeting of the expert panel was underway. The two groups had made presentations before the panel on Wednesday. Pfizer had sought more time to present their data as India set to launch tomorrow nationwide dry-run for vaccination. More than 50 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine have already been stockpiled by its local manufacturer, Serum Institute of India (SII), and one of the sources said the shots could start to be transported from cold storage to Indian states as early as Saturday. Meanwhile, The country’s COVID-19 recovery rate has improved to 96.08 per cent as more than 23 thousand COVID patients recovered during the last 24 hours. The Health Ministry said the total number of recoveries has gone up to over 98 lakh 83 thousand. AIR says the actual caseload currently comprises only 2.47 per cent of the total positive cases. Presently, the total number of active cases in the country is around two lakh 54 thousand. During the past 24 hours, 20 thousand 36 new cases were reported taking the total number of positive cases in the country to over one crore two lakh. The Ministry said, currently, India’s Case Fatality Rate is 1.45 per cent, which is one of the lowest globally. During the last 24 hours, 256 deaths were reported taking the toll to one lakh 48 thousand 994.image courtesy :Reuters