Serum CEO Adar Poonawalla posted a video of him playing tennis, with a message for the unvaccinated Novak Djokovic.
Giving the background on the decision to export vaccines, SII said, "In January 2021, we had a large stockpile of vaccine doses. Our vaccination drive had started successfully and the number of daily cases being recorded were at an all-time low."
The show-cause notice was issued following reports that human trials of the most promising COVID-19 vaccine candidate, being developed by the University of Oxford, have been put on hold after a United Kingdom participant had an adverse reaction to it.
Prior to the beginning of the nationwide vaccination drive against Covid-19 in India on January 16, the Pune-based Serum Institute of India has issued a factsheet to answer frequently asked questions that vaccine beneficiaries might have.
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).
Under the conditions, the firms shall submit data of ongoing clinical trials and the vaccines to be supplied for programmatic setting.Adverse event following immunisation will continue to be monitored.
The announcement comes a day after the Subject Expert Committee (SEC) on COVID-19 of the CDSCO recommended granting emergency use authorisation (EUA) to the COVID-19 vaccines Covovax and Corbevax with certain conditions.
The DCGI said it has no objection in respect of 'Extension of Shelf Life of Covishield Vaccine' in multi-dose glass vial (10 dose-5ml) from six months to nine months.
Karan Johar hosted a huge birthday party for Apoorva Mehta, the CEO of Dharma Productions, who turned 50 on March 17.
The Centre on Tuesday placed orders for 44 crore doses of Covishield and Covaxin, a day after Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced that the Centre would take over the state procurement quota and provide free jabs to state governments for inoculation of all above the age of 18.
'he Centre has not issued any mandate, the stand of centre is that it should be 100 per cent but it is not a mandate'
Pune-based Serum Institute of India (SII) is sitting on 200 million doses of Covishield that were manufactured in December and are set to expire in September. The company is likely to destroy these vaccines if nothing works out, Sohini Das reports.
Invest in quality companies that make profits, advises stock market expert and rediffGURU Samraat Jadhav.
Over the last four days, the Indian arm of US pharmaceutical giant Pfizer, Pune-based Serum Institute of India and Hyderabad-based pharmaceutical firm Bharat Biotech have applied to the Drugs Controller General of India seeking emergency use authorisation for their COVID-19 vaccines.
Covaxin has been indigenously developed by Bharat Biotech in collaboration with the Indian Council of Medical Research.
The Drugs Controller General of India will take a final call on the recommendation. If approved, it will be the third COVID-19 vaccine to be available in India.
A massive pan-India inoculation drive against COVID-19 was set in process on Tuesday with more than 56 lakh doses of the Covishield vaccine flown to 13 cities across India from Pune and taken to designated national and state-level stores amid tight security.
Currently, Covishield and other COVID vaccines are approved for people above the age of 18 years.
If the vaccine is recommended for use as a booster against Omicron, it may significantly boost the demand for Covishield in India.
Bharat Biotech recruited 13,000 participants for the Phase-3 clinical trial of Covaxin. This is one of the largest efficacy trials held in the country.
There is also evidence to support immune evasive properties of the BA.2 sub-variant, the researchers said.
The government on Thursday took a series of measures in view of the rising number of COVID-19 cases in several parts of the world, including China.
While Bharat Biotech's Covaxin is in trials among children already, Serum Institute of India will begin Novavax vaccine trials on children from July, whereas the Pfizer vaccine has been approved for adolescents in the United States; and Cadila Healthcare's ZyCoV-D has done trials on 12 year-olds and above already, reports Sohini Das.
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.
As for Bharat Biotech, the Subject Expert Committee (SEC) on COVID-19 of the CDSCO asked the firm to expedite volunteer recruitment for the ongoing clinical trial and said it may conduct interim efficacy analysis for further consideration of restricted emergency use approval for its vaccine Covaxin, they stated.
Experts, however, feel that given the intensity of the second wave and the high single dose coverage, India is in a good position to avoid any drastic wave in the near future.
Bharat Biotech, Serum Institute, Zydus Cadila, Panacea Biotec, Indian Immunologicals, Mynvax and Biological E are among the domestic pharma firms working on the coronavirus vaccines in India.
'We are hoping by March, the government allows us to export and give it to the private market.'
"The vaccination schedule is considered complete 28 days after the administration of a dose for Janssen vaccine and 7 days after administration of a second dose for other vaccines (Pfizer / Comirnaty, Moderna, AstraZeneca/Vaxzevria/Covishield)," the statement added.
The quantity of Covid vaccines to be exported will be decided by the government every month to ensure there is no dearth of domestic availability.
Dominic Xavier offers his take on the COVID-19 vaccine which experts feel should be expected in mid-2021 only. Till then we have to get used to live with the virus.
Serum Institute of India announced a price of Rs 400 per dose for its COVID-19 vaccine 'Covishield' for state governments and Rs 600 per dose for private hospitals.
The primary objective was to get the adult vaccine as children rarely have a severe form of the disease. Once schools reopen, the demand for vaccines for children under 12 may soar.
Once the UK drug regulator gives its approval to the Oxford vaccine, the expert committee on COVID-19 at the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO) will hold its meeting and thoroughly review the safety and immunogenicity data from the clinical evaluations conducted abroad and in India before granting any emergency authorisation for the vaccine here, official sources said.
SII has signed an agreement to manufacture the potential vaccine developed by Jenner Institute of Oxford University in collaboration with British-Swedish pharma company AstraZeneca.
Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray on Friday said that whether the fire at the Serum Institute of India (SII) was an accident or sabotage will be known only after the probe gets over.
In a letter to the prime minister, the Congress chief alleged that the new vaccine policy implies that the central government has abdicated its responsibility of providing free vaccine to all Indians between 18 and 45 years of age.
Serum Institute of India has urged Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya to consider reducing the gap between the second and the precaution dose of Covishield from the current nine months to three, in line with Centre's revised guidelines for officials on election duty, official sources said on Thursday.
Vaccine major Bharat Biotech on Wednesday said its COVID-19 vaccine, Covaxin, has demonstrated an interim vaccine efficacy of 81 per cent in the Phase 3 clinical trials.
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