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Updated April 13th, 2021 at 22:43 IST

Pfizer, Moderna and Johnson & Johnson vaccine 'frontrunners' says Centre for Emergency use

Niti Aayog member Dr VK Paul on Tuesday, said that the front-contenders are vaccines from Pfizer, Moderna and Johnson & Johnson (J&J) for emergency usage

ANI/PTI
ANI/PTI | Image:self
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Elaborating on the Centre's decision to fast-track the Emergency Approvals for COVID-19 vaccines produced outside India, Niti Aayog member Dr VK Paul on Tuesday, said that the front-contenders are vaccines from Pfizer, Moderna and Johnson & Johnson (J&J). Talking about post-vaccination effects, he urged people to continue wearing masks as there can be an infection even after vaccination. Terming 'masks' as a social vaccine, he said urged that people to get vaccinated at the earliest.

Centre fast-tracks EUA for foreign COVID-19 vaccines

Earlier in the day, Centre fast-tracked the Emergency Approvals for COVID-19 vaccines produced outside India that have been granted Emergency Utilisation Authorisation (EUA) in other countries in order to expand the domestic vaccine basket and increase the pace of vaccination. Already, Russia's Sputnik V received the SEC & DCGI's nod earlier on Monday and Tuesday for emergency use. The matter of augmenting the Basket of Vaccines available for fighting the pandemic as well as accelerating the pace & coverage of domestic vaccination programme was discussed in the 23rd meeting of the National Expert Group on Vaccine Administration for COVID-19 (NEGVAC).

"Further, the first 100 beneficiaries of such foreign vaccines shall be assessed for seven days for safety outcomes before it is rolled out for further immunization programme within the country", the government's press release read. 

As per a top government source, India will receive vaccines from 4 additional manufacturers by the third quarter this year, apart from the three so far. These include Johnson & Johnson's vaccine (with Biological E), Novovax (with SII, as mentioned above), Zydus Cadila's vaccine and an intranasal vaccine by Bharat Biotech.

US pauses J&J vaccine after 6 cases of blood clots

The United States has recommended a pause in the use of Johnson & Johnson’s single-dose COVID-19 vaccine “out of an abundance of caution” as the authorities investigate the jabs connection with the blood clots. The US Food and Drug Administration and the Centres for Disease Control are currently determining the “potential significance” of the six cases reported of blood clots following the administration of J&J vaccine. In a tweet, US FDA said, “Until that process is complete, we are recommending this pause” even though the regulator said that as of Monday over 6.8 million doses of the vaccine have been used.

Meanwhile,  European Medicines Agency (EMA) said that it had found a “possible link” between AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine shot and the rare fatal clots but the body did not offer any age restrictions that are now being offered by the UK authorities. Instead, EMA left it up to the member nations to decide over the restrictions on the use of AstraZeneca jabs. On April 7, EU and UK regulators held a simultaneous news conference to announce the results of their respective investigations into the reports of blood clots that triggered concerns over the vaccine shots. EU agency called the clots “very rare” side effects. 

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Published April 13th, 2021 at 22:43 IST

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