ICMR chief lauds India approving 2 vaccines; warns 'masks may be last to go, maybe never'

As India approved 2 COVID-19 vaccines, Dr Balram Bhargava, the Director General of Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), on Sunday said that masks may never go out of regular usage. Welcoming the DCGI's decision earlier on Sunday he said, "I think it's a great day for India it's a great day for humanity at large. This is wonderful news for India and all of us." Speaking further Dr Balram Bhargava said that it is unknown how long the vaccine is going to be effective. 

Director-General of ICMR said, "We don't know how much of the population we'll have to vaccinate to break the virus transmission. What we know is that we've been able to control the pandemic in the country by following COVID-19 appropriate behaviour... I am of the opinion that masks will probably be the last to go and probably may never even go."

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ICMR: India becomes 1st country to isolate & culture new strain

Speaking about the new variant of Coronavirus wreaking havoc in the UK, the ICMR chief informed that the scientists of the National Institute of Virology (NIV) have successfully isolated the new virus strain and it will be tested against different vaccines soon. He also added that he hopes "potentially Bharat Biotech vaccine Covaxin will have some advantages over other vaccines on this new strain because it is a whole virus." Earlier on Saturday, ICMR announced that India has successfully isolated and cultured the UK-variant of Sars-CoV-2. It is to mention that no other country besides India has yet reported successful isolation and culture of the new virus strain.

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India approves SII's Covishield & Bharat Biotech's Covaxin

Drug Controller General of India (DCGI) Dr VG Somani on Sunday announced that the vaccines of Serum Institue of India (Covishield) and Bharat Biotech (Covaxin) have been granted permission for restricted use in an emergency situation. Dr VG Somani also informed that permission to conduct phase III trials have been granted to Cadila Healthcare vaccine against Coronavirus. 

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The massive development comes a day after the Subject Expert Committee (SEC) of the Central Drugs Standards Control Organisation (CDSCO) made recommendations to the Drugs Controller General of India to grant permission for restricted emergency use of the Serum Institute of India (SII) and Bharat Biotech's vaccines. As per an official release, the SEC met on Friday and Saturday and made its recommendations in respect of the accelerated approval process request of the SII, Bharat Biotech International Ltd as well as about phase-III trials of Cadila Healthcare Ltd.

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(With ANI inputs)