New Delhi, Dec 20: India may begin vaccinating people against COVID-19 in January and the government’s first priority has been safety and efficacy of the vaccine, Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan has said.
“I personally feel may be in January in any stage or any week, there can be a time when we can be in a position to give first COVID vaccine shot to people of India” Harsh Vardhan told ANI.
He was asked about India’s vaccination drive against coronavirus.
The minister said that the vaccines, including those who have applied for emergency use authorisation are being analysed by the regulator.
According to the Health Ministry, there are nine COVID-19 vaccine candidates in different phases of clinical trials in India — six are under clinical trials and three in pre-clinical phase.
The six vaccines under clinical trials include Covishield vaccine candidate which is being manufactured by the Serum Institute of India (SII) in Pune. The vaccine has been developed by Astrazeneca in collaboration with Oxford University.
Covaxin vaccine is being manufactured by Bharat Biotech International Ltd, Hyderabad in collaboration with the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR).
Another vaccine candidate ZyCoV-D is being manufactured by Cadila Healthcare Ltd, Ahmedabad. Their collaborator is the Department of Biotechnology.
The Russian vaccine (Sputnik V) is being manufactured by Dr Reddy’s lab of Hyderabad.
The vaccine candidate NVX-CoV2373 is being developed by the Serum Institute of India, Pune. Their collaborator is Novavax.
There is also an antigen-based vaccine candidate being manufactured by Biological E Ltd, Hyderabad. (ANI)
