Indians to Get COVID Vaccine in 73 Days
A top official at the Serum Institute of India said India will get its first coronavirus vaccine named Covishield in 73 days.
The Covishield vaccine is being developed by AstraZeneca & Oxford University. The Serum Institute of India is collaborating with them to create the vaccine. On 22nd August 2020, a top official at the Serum Institute of India said India will get its first coronavirus vaccine named Covishield in 73 days. Covishield may be the first vaccine to start production in India. A report said that a top official of Serum Institute of India (SII) has said that the government has given the biotechnology company a special manufacturing priority license and fast-tracked the trial protocol processes to get the trials completed in 58 days after which they will begin manufacturing the vaccines for sale.
The phase III trials of the vaccine are handled by the Serum Institute of India and will begin on 22nd August at 20 centres in India. It is mostly in Pune and Mumbai in Maharashtra and Ahmedabad in Gujarat. In this phase the vaccine will be given to 1,600 people. The Business Today report said that the vaccine will belong to the Serum Institute. It said the company has entered into an agreement with AstraZeneca to buy rights and pay a royalty fee for exclusively selling it in India and 92 other countries. The report also said the Indian government has also requested 68 crore doses from the Serum Institute by June 2021. The Central Government has indicated that it is planning to immunise Indians for free. Bharat Biotech's 'Covaxine' and Zydus Cadila's 'ZyCoV-D' are also being developed in India. Union Health Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan on 22nd August said that, if all goes well India will get a Covid-19 vaccine by the end of this year.
