After COVAXIN And COVISHIELD, National Task Force Chief Says 2 More Vaccines Will be Available by May in India

Coronavirus Vaccine: At a time when the second phase of the coronavirus vaccine is going on in the country, Head of the Operations Research Group of the COVID-19 Task Force Dr NK Arora on Tuesday said that Head of the Operations Research Group of the COVID-19 Task Force Dr NK Arora said that almost 30 vaccine candidates currently are under various phases of trials in India. He also added that Russian Sputnik V should be available for use in the next 4-6 weeks.

Speaking CNBC-News18 on Tuesday, Dr NK Arora said that Zydus Cadila vaccine is next in line, and it should be available by end of May.
Saying that negligible to none allergic reactions have been observed in beneficiaries of the vaccine, he added that only 1 in 15,000 cases of anaphylaxis have been observed.

At this critical time of coronavirus, India has launched world’s largest vaccination drive on January 16 with two vaccines made in India – Covishield which is developed by AstraZeneca and Oxford University and is being produced by Pune’s Serum Institute of India and Hyderabad-based Bharat Biotech’s Covaxin.

It must be noted that Hyderabad-based Dr Reddy’s Laboratories had in September last year partnered with the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) to conduct the clinical trials of Sputnik V and for its distribution rights in India. The vaccine is undergoing the phase 3 clinical trial in India.

Developed by the Gamaleya National Research Institute of Epidemiology and Microbiology, Sputnik V was registered by the Ministry of Health of Russia on August 11, 2020, and became the world’s first registered vaccine against COVID-19 based on the human adenoviral vector platform. Notably, Sputnik V has already received approval in 26 countries and has been administered to more than 20 lakh people worldwide.

On the other hand, Zydus Cadila’s vaccine candidate ZyCoV-D is being made in collaboration with the Department of Biotechnology. the DCGI had in January gave its approval to the Ahmedabad-based drug firm to initiate Phase III clinical trials.

In the meantime, the Central government on Tuesday said about 50 lakh people have registered themselves on the Co-WIN portal without any glitch since the window opened Monday morning. The Central government also added that over 2.08 lakh beneficiaries have received their first doses of COVID-19 vaccine in the second phase of the inoculation drive so far.

The vaccination drive for those over 60 years of age and within the age bracket of 45-60 years with specified comorbidities began on March 1, and the registrations opened at 9 am Monday on the Co-WIN portal — cowin.gov.in.