Chennai: The Central Drugs and Standards Committee (CDSCO) on Sunday formally approved the Covid-19 vaccines by Bharat Biotech and the Serum Institute of India (SII).
This allows the vaccines — Covishield by SII and based on the Oxford AstraZeneca vaccine, and Covaxin by Bharat Biotech — to be offered to healthcare workers and frontline workers in India.
India should be able to roll out its Covid-19 vaccination programme in the ‘near future’ as the preparations are ready and robust, NITI Aayog member (health) V K Paul said in an interview.
Private healthcare providers say they are keen on offering vaccination, with the Union government stating that its priority now is to vaccinate the most vulnerable groups immediately.
Meanwhile, several experts have raised concern over the ‘hasty approval’ granted to the vaccines despite the lack of adequate efficacy data.
Congress leader Anand Sharma on Sunday raised concerns over India’s drugs regulator granting permission for restricted use of Bharat Biotech’s vaccine and asked the government to explain why mandatory protocols and verification of data has been dispensed with.
Samajwadi Party (SP) President Akhilesh Yadav said that the coronavirus vaccination programme was a sensitive process and the Centre should not treat it like a ‘sajaawati-dikhaawati’ (cosmetic) event. He also said that the process should commence only after making concrete arrangements. He has attracted strong reaction from BJP.
Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan on Sunday said the drug regulator’s approval of two coronavirus vaccines for emergency use was a watershed moment in the country’s battle against the deadly virus.
Meanwhile, the indigenous vaccine developed by Bharat Biotech with the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) will be used as a ‘back-up’, only if the country needs extra doses to vaccinate a large number of people, particularly given the possibility of a surge triggered by the UK variant.
And, unlike the Serum Institute of India’s (SII) vaccine Covishield, Covaxin will be used only in ‘clinical trial mode’, where consent will be taken and side-effects monitored, the heads of AIIMS and ICMR, part of the National Covid-19 task force, said.