COVID-19 briefing: 60 foreign envoys arrive in India

New Delhi, Dec 08: 60 heads of foreign mission flown in by the Centre have arrived in India and they would visit Bharat Biotech and Biological E, the two biotech companies that are working on a vaccine against COVID-19.

At Hyderabad, the envoys will be briefed about the progress made by the scientists who are woking on the vaccine, officials tell OneIndia Bharat Biotech has filed for emergency use authorisation of Covaxin. After Pfizer and Serum Institute of India (SII), Bharat Biotech became the third company to seek such regulatory approval.

Covaxin is being indigenously developed by Bharat Biotech in collaboration with the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR).

On December 4, Prime Minister Narendra Modi at an all-party meeting had expressed hope that a Covid-19 vaccine may be ready in a few weeks.

That same evening, the Indian arm of US pharmaceutical giant Pfizer sought emergency use approval for its vaccine from the central drug regulator, after the firm secured such clearance in the UK and Bahrain.

The Serum Institute sought such nod for the Oxford Covid-19 vaccine, Covishield, on December 6.

The applications of Bharat Biotech, Serum Institute of India and Pfizer will be reviewed by the subject expert committee (SEC) on Covid-19 at the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO) in the coming days.

"However, none of the applications has so far been forwarded to the committee and no date has been fixed as on when the SEC will meet for assessing and evaluating the applications," official source said.