(REUTERS): A government-appointed panel of experts on Friday approved a COVID_19 vaccine developed by AstraZeneca and Oxford University for emergency use, two sources with knowledge of the matter told an international news agency.
According to details, the experts’ panel will send its recommendations to the country’s drugs regulator, the Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI). The decision clears the vaccine’s rollout in India which has the highest number of COVID-19 infections.
India wants to start administering the vaccine soon, most likely by Wednesday, said one of the sources, both of whom declined to be named ahead of an official announcement expected later in the day.
More than 50 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine have already been stockpiled by its local manufacturer, the Serum Institute of India (SII). One of the sources said the shots could start to be transported from cold storage to Indian states as early as Saturday.
A representative of India’s Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO), whose experts are meeting for the second time this week, declined to comment. Britain and Argentina have already authorised the AstraZeneca vaccine for urgent public use.
Countries with relatively basic health infrastructure have high hopes for a shot that, unlike Pfizer’s, can be stored and transported under normal refrigeration, rather than supercooled to -70 degrees Celsius (-94 Fahrenheit).
India has reported more than 10 million COVID-19 infections, though its rate of infection has come down significantly from a mid-September peak.
