Serum Institute of India (SII) have submitted the Oxford Covid vaccine, Covidshield, to the Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) seeking authorisation for emergency use in the country. The application was filed shortly after American pharma company Pfizer did the same.

SII’s Chief Executive Officer Adar Poonawalla took to Twitter to make an official announcement. Poonawalla tweeted how the vaccine will save thousands of lives, and specially thanked Indian Prime minster Narendra Modi for his support.

 

 

Meanwhile, Pfizer is still awaiting approval from the DCGI regarding their Covid vaccine. The American company’s vaccine was recently approved in Bahrain, Canada and England, where vaccines have already started rolling out.

Last month, Poonawalla appeared on NDTV and mentioned that approximately 100 million doses of the Oxford-AstraZeneca produced Covid vaccine will be available by January 2021 in India.

“It will be another two-three months for the vaccine to be available in India. By January we will have 100 million doses, minimum. The target set by the government is 300 to 400 million doses by July. We are putting a MRP of ₹ 1,000 – for the private market it will be around ₹ 500 or 600 (+ ₹ 200 for the distributor) and ₹ 250 or less for the government,” said Poonawalla.

 

If the Covid vaccine does get approved, India will join countries like England and Canada to most likely start administering the vaccine nation-wide.