New Delhi: With India reeling under the second wave of COVID-19, the government is now faced with the massive challenge to vaccinate its billion-plus population against the deadly virus, which has led to huge loss of lives, crippling economy and a crumbling health infrastructure. In order to accomplish the mammoth task, and get the lives back on track, the Govt of India has so far approved eight coronavirus vaccines that would be available in the country in coming months.

Apart from SII’s Covishield and Bharat Biotech’s Covaxin, which are already in use since January, Russia’s Sputnik V doses are expected to be administered from next week. The government has also issued emergency use authorisation to Serum Institute of India for Novavax, Bharat Biotech’s nasal vaccine, Biological E, Zydus Cadila, Gennova and Sputnik V.

Here’s a list of COVID-19 vaccines to be available in India in 2021:

  1. Covishield: The Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine, which is being manufactured by the Serum Institute of India in Pune, has been in use since January. SII has assured of producing 10 crore doses of Covishield by August.
  2. Covaxin: Bharat Biotech’s Covaxin was also given the nod by the Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) in January. Notably, the drug regulator has accorded permission to conduct the Phase II/III clinical trial of Covaxin in the age group 2 to 18 years. Bharat Biotech has assured that it would provide 3.32 crore doses in July, and expand it to 7.82 crores in August.
  3. Intranasal: Another one developed by Bharat Biotech and the firm has assured to provide 10 crore doses of its intranasal vaccine ‘BBV154’. It is a novel adenovirus vectored, intranasal vaccine for COVID-19. The intranasal vaccine stimulates a broad immune response – neutralizing IgG, mucosal IgA, and T cell responses.
  4. Sputnik V: The Russia-developed vaccine is being marketed by Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories in India and has assured of 15.6 crore doses this year. The soft launch of the COVID vaccine Sputnik V has commenced and the first dose of the vaccine was administered in Hyderabad today.
  5. Novavax: The American pharmaceutical company in partnership with Serum Institute of India will be supplying covid-19 vaccine NVX-CoV2373 named Covovax this year. It has assured of providing 20 crore doses of Novavax by year-end.
  6. Zydus Cadila: The Ahmedabad-based pharmaceutical company has been authorised to provide its ZyCoV-D COVID vaccine. The company is expected to provide 5 crore doses by year-end.
  7. Biological E: Biological E Limited (BE) has received emergency authorisation for its protein subunit BECOV2A vaccine. Biological E is expected to produce 30 crore doses and the vaccine delivery is expected in August.
  8. Gennova: The Centre has given approval to the Pune-based Gennova Biopharmaceuticals to provide vaccine doses against COVID-19. Gennova will be providing 6 crore doses.

The cumulative number of COVID-19 vaccine doses administered in the country inched closer to 18 crore, the Union Health Ministry said on Thursday. It said 4,37,192 beneficiaries in the age group of 18-44 years received their first dose of COVID vaccine on Thursday and cumulatively 39,14,688 across 32 states and union territories since the start of the third phase of the vaccination drive.