Pfizer to remain 'engaged with Indian govt' over COVID-19 vaccine supply

As vaccine shortages continue across various states in India, Pfizer on Wednesday said that it continues to remain engaged with the Government of India towards making its COVID-19 vaccine available for use in the country's immunization program. Pfizer's statement came after the Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) exempted specific trials of COVID-19 vaccines that have been approved by some other international regulatory bodies. 

"Pfizer continues to remain engaged with the Government of India towards making its COVID-19 vaccine available for use in the government immunisation programme in the country. As these discussions are ongoing, we are unable to share any additional details at this time," a Pfizer spokesperson said.

This move by DCGI is likely to clear the way for foreign vaccines like Pfizer and Moderna for the country's urgent requirement. In a letter, DCGI Chief VG Somani said that this will be applicable for vaccines that have already been approved for restricted use by the US FDA, EMA, UK MHRA, PMDA Japan or listed for Emergency Use by the World Health Organisation (WHO). 

Somani had added that for the vaccines that are well established from the standpoint that millions have already been vaccinated with the said vaccines, the requirement for conduction post-approval bridging clinical trials and the requirement of testing of every batch of the vaccine by the Central Drugs Laboratory (CDL), Kasauli can be exempted if the vaccine batch/lot has been certified and released by the National Control Laboratory of the Country of Origin.

Pfizer's COVID vaccine likely to be available in India in July: Govt 

Earlier on Thursday, NITI Aayog member Dr VK Paul revealed that the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine is likely to be available in India in July 2021. In addition, Dr Paul also informed that Pfizer has sought indemnity against liability and the Centre is examining the request. 

"We are engaged with Pfizer as they've indicated the availability of a certain volume of vaccines in the coming months, possibly in July. They've requested indemnity against liability to all the nations. We are examining this request. There is no decision as of now," Dr VK Paul said on Thursday. 

The Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine has shown an overall efficacy of 95 per cent after both doses. Additionally, it has proved to be effective against all age groups and all variants of Coronavirus. Earlier, Pfizer had withdrawn its Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) application in India after the Centre had sought additional information regarding its COVID-19 vaccine. 

Current COVID-19 situation in India

India has so far recorded over 2,83,07,832 positive cases, out of which, 2,61,79,085 have successfully recovered and 3,35,102 have died. As per the latest reports from MoHFW, in the past 24 hours, 1,32,788 new cases, 2,31,456 fresh recoveries and 3,207 deaths have been reported. Currently, the total number of active cases in the country is 17,93,645. 

(Image: AP, PTI)