Last Updated : Nov 13, 2020 04:24 PM IST | Source: Moneycontrol.com

COVID-19 update | India to get 100 million AstraZeneca's vaccine shots by December 2020: Reports

Serum Institute of India plans to have 100 million doses ready by December 2020 for an inoculation drive that could begin across India that same month, say reports

Moneycontrol News

With Covishield, the coronavirus vaccine candidate jointly developed by the University of Oxford and British firm AstraZeneca entering phase 3 trials,  Serum Institute of India (SII) has started ramping up the production of the vaccine.

The world's largest vaccine maker plans to have 100 million doses ready by December 2020 for an inoculation drive that could begin across India that same month, Bloomberg reported on November 13.

SII CEO Adar Poonawalla said the Indian government may give emergency authorisation as early as December, based on the final-stage trial performance data of the AstraZeneca’s candidate.

Close

Pune-based Serum Institute gives Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine to 1,600 people - and now the watch starts for results

COVID-19 Vaccine

Frequently Asked Questions

View more
How does a vaccine work?

A vaccine works by mimicking a natural infection. A vaccine not only induces immune response to protect people from any future COVID-19 infection, but also helps quickly build herd immunity to put an end to the pandemic. Herd immunity occurs when a sufficient percentage of a population becomes immune to a disease, making the spread of disease from person to person unlikely. The good news is that SARS-CoV-2 virus has been fairly stable, which increases the viability of a vaccine.

How many types of vaccines are there?

There are broadly four types of vaccine — one, a vaccine based on the whole virus (this could be either inactivated, or an attenuated [weakened] virus vaccine); two, a non-replicating viral vector vaccine that uses a benign virus as vector that carries the antigen of SARS-CoV; three, nucleic-acid vaccines that have genetic material like DNA and RNA of antigens like spike protein given to a person, helping human cells decode genetic material and produce the vaccine; and four, protein subunit vaccine wherein the recombinant proteins of SARS-COV-2 along with an adjuvant (booster) is given as a vaccine.

What does it take to develop a vaccine of this kind?

Vaccine development is a long, complex process. Unlike drugs that are given to people with a diseased, vaccines are given to healthy people and also vulnerable sections such as children, pregnant women and the elderly. So rigorous tests are compulsory. History says that the fastest time it took to develop a vaccine is five years, but it usually takes double or sometimes triple that time.

View more
Show

related news

That initial amount of 100 million doses will come to India, Poonawalla said in an interview on November 12. He added that full approval - expected early next year - will allow distribution on a 50-50 basis with the South Asian nation and Covax, the World Health Organization-backed body that’s purchasing shots for poor nations.

SII, which has tied-up with five developers, has already made 40 million doses of AstraZeneca’s vaccine in the past two months, and it aims to begin manufacturing Novavax Inc’s contender soon.

"We were a bit concerned it was a big risk. But both AstraZeneca and Novavax’s shots are looking pretty good," Bloomberg quoted Poonawalla as saying.

Meanwhile, AstraZeneca CEO Pascal Soriot said his firm is preparing for the possibility of large-scale vaccinations as early as December. He added that once the UK grants its own emergency licence, SII will submit that same data to its Indian counterparts.

Looking at the broader perspective, COVID-19 vaccine developers still have doubts over the distributions of the drug, even if their vaccine is proven effective and cleared by the regulators.

Citing the affordability and manufacturing hurdles, the SII CEO also hinted that globally it would take until 2024 to vaccinate all people, while it would take two years to see a real reduction in infections.

Earlier, reports arrived that Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government had set aside about Rs 50,000 ($6.7 billion) for COVID-19 vaccines. While Poonawalla had argued that India may need Rs 80,000 to buy and distribute the vaccine to everyone.

Click here for Moneycontrol's full coverage of the COVID-19 outbreak
First Published on Nov 13, 2020 04:24 pm

tags #Adar Poonawalla #AstraZeneca #AstraZeneca Vaccine #coronavirus #Covid-19 #COVID-19 vaccine #Covishield #Current Affairs #Serum Institute of India