An expert committee of the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO) will meet on Wednesday to review applications of Pfizer, Serum Institute of India and Bharat Biotech seeking emergency use authorisation for their COVID-19 vaccine candidates.
A decision on the applications is expected to be taken very soon. Prime Minister Narendra Modi had earlier hinted that vaccine administration in India could start in the coming weeks. Countries like UK and Bahrain had, last week, approved the use of Pfizer vaccine among the public.
Vaccines that applied for emergency use authorisation in India
Hyderabad-based pharmaceutical firm Bharat Biotech had yesterday sought approval for the indigenously developed Covaxin. The vaccine candidate was created in association with ICMR.
The Serum Institute of India on Sunday had sought emergency use authorisation for the Oxford COVID-19 vaccine in the country citing unmet medical needs due to the pandemic and in the interest of the public at large. The third phase clinical trial of the Oxford COVID-19 vaccine, Covishield, is being conducted by the Pune-based Serum Institute of India on Sunday (SII), co-sponsored by Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), in various parts of the country in addition to clinical studies being carried out by Oxford-AstraZeneca in the UK and Brazil.
Pfizer India was first pharmaceutical firm to apply for vaccine clearance in India, after its parent company secured such clearance in the UK and Bahrain. The firm, in its application submitted to the drug regulator, has sought permission to import the vaccine for sale and distribution in the country, besides waiver of clinical trials on Indian population in accordance with the special provisions under the New Drugs and Clinical Trials Rules, 2019. Pfizer claims to offer up to 95 per cent protection against COVID-19.
