Bharat Biotech's Covaxin gets SEC's nod, DCGI decision on vaccine likely tomorrow: Sources

Meeting for the second consecutive day, the Special Experts Committee (SEC) deliberating on the Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) applications has submitted its recommendations to the Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) on Saturday. The expert panel has given its nod for emergency use of Bharat Biotech's vaccine candidate as well. The Hyderabad-based pharma firm has partnered with the ICMR to develop India's indigenous COVID-19 vaccine - Covaxin. The drugs regulator is likely to give its decision on the applications for the COVID-19 vaccine candidates tomorrow. On Friday, the SEC had recommended Serum Insititute's 'Covishield' for use against COVID-19 and had sought additional efficacy reports from Bharat Biotech. 

SEC recommends Covishield 

With the SEC giving a green signal to the SII COVID vaccine candidate, the firm remains only a step away from making Covishield India's first approved COVID vaccine. SII now awaits the confirmation from Drug Controller General of India (DCGI) now. The vaccine by the SII is being developed in partnership with Oxford-AstraZeneca. Notably, the United Kingdom government had authorized the use of the Oxford-AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine couple of days ago, pushing its approval case inches ahead in India. 

READ | Serum Institute's Vaccine Candidate 'Covishield' Gets SEC's Green Signal, Awaits DCGI Nod

Pertinently, the Serum Institute of India has already produced around 50 million dosages of the Oxford-AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine 'Covishield' and plans to scale it up to 100 million by March next year even as it awaits approval for emergency use authorisation, SII CEO Adar Poonawalla said on Monday. 

3 crore front-liners to get free vaccine first

In a massive boost to India’s fight against the Coronavirus pandemic, Union Health Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan announced on Saturday that free COVID-19 vaccines will be provided to the most prioritised beneficiaries in the first phase of the anti-virus inoculation drive in the country.

READ | SHOCKER: Akhilesh Yadav Says 'Won't Take BJP's Vaccine' As Pan-India 'dry Run' Commences

“In the first phase of the vaccination drive, free COVID-19 vaccines shall be provided across the nation to most prioritised beneficiaries that include one crore healthcare workers and two crore frontline workers,” said Dr Harsh Vardhan in a tweet. He added that the details on how further 27 crore priority beneficiaries are to be vaccinated until July are yet to be finalised.

On Saturday, Dr Harsh Vardhan reviewed the preparedness for the mega vaccination dry run that has got underway in every state and Union Territory. Currently, a dry run of the COVID-19 vaccination delivery system is being conducted in 116 districts across 259 sites in India. The aim of the dry run is to test linkages between planning and implementation and to identify the challenges. 

This is the second dry run being conducted in the country, the first major run-through was held on December 28 and 29 where the Centre conducted vaccination drive in four states, namely - Assam, Andhra Pradesh, Punjab and Gujarat, which had gone off smoothly.

READ | Health Minister Reviews COVID Vaccine Dry Run Preparations Even As SEC Meets On Approvals

READ | Health & Wellness Front-&-center In PM Modi's New Year 2021 Wish; Leaders Greet Citizens