The move comes even as India's drug regulator has extended Covishield's shelf life from six to nine months from its manufacturing date.
Samples of the cough syrup have been taken from the manufacturing premises in Noida and sent to the Regional Drugs Testing Laboratory (RDTL) in Chandigarh for testing, Mandaviya said.
The DCGI also directed Serum Institute of India to increase the safety monitoring of the subjects already vaccinated as part of the trial, and submit the plan and report.
Currently, phase 2 and 3 clinical trials of the Oxford vaccine candidate is going on in the United Kingdom, phase 3 clinical trial in Brazil and phase 1 and 2 clinical trials in South Africa.
Paul noted that "three to four months from now, there will be other vaccines and the stockpile will be even bigger. "And more acceleration can be brought about in the vaccination programme," Paul added.
The Pune-based vaccine major has entered into a collaboration with the University of Oxford and AstraZeneca to manufacture the vaccine.
The approval by the Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) was given on the basis of recommendations submitted by a COVID-19 subject expert committee (SEC) of the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO).
This is the fifth consecutive day that COVID-19 cases have increased by more than 50,000 in the country.
'We must not compromise with the standard, the quality. We don't need to be the first to launch a drug but what we need is a Made in India vaccine that the entire world can rely on'
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