India likely to roll out COVID-19 vaccination by next week

In a major development, India on Tuesday announced it would be ready to administer coronavirus vaccine by January 13. At a press briefing, Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan said the vaccine will be rolled out within ten days of receiving the emergency use authorization. The announcement comes as a major relief for India which has been plagued by a number of COVID-19 cases. "We are prepared to roll out Covid-19 vaccines within 10 days of granting emergency use authorization date, based on dry run feedback," Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan said at the presser. The Drugs Controller General of India on Sunday announced that it had approved both the Oxford University-AstraZeneca vaccine being manufactured in India by the Serum Institute of India (SII), and Bharat Biotech International Limited’s locally developed vaccine candidate, Covaxin. 

Covaxin has been recommended for restricted use in “emergency situation in public interest as an abundant precaution”, in clinical trial mode, to have more options for vaccination. All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) director Randeep Guleria said Bharat Biotech’s vaccine has been given approval only as a backup.According to the official, the government is in talks with both companies whose vaccines have been approved. DCGI has accepted recommendations made by a subject expert committee of the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation to grant restricted emergency approval to the two vaccines. “The paperwork tends to take some time but arrangements are being made to sign the deal as quickly as possible so that the vaccination drive can soon be kick-started. Dry runs have already been successfully conducted across the country without any major glitches. The digital platform, CoWIN, meant to be used for vaccine delivery is good to go as minor modifications that were needed have been already made,” the official added.