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INDIA-HEALTH-VIRUS LEAD
India approves two Covid-19 vaccines for emergency use
NEW DELHI, Jan 3, 2021 (BSS/AFP) – India on Sunday authorised
the emergency use of two coronavirus vaccines developed by
AstraZeneca and Oxford University and by local pharmaceutical firm
Bharat Biotech, the country’s drug regulator said, paving the way
for one of the world’s biggest inoculation drives.
“The… vaccines of Serum Institute (AstraZeneca/Oxford
vaccine) and Bharat Biotech are being approved for restricted use
in emergency situations,” the Drugs Controller General of India,
V.G. Somani, said at a briefing.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi tweeted that the fast-track
approvals were “a decisive turning point to strengthen a spirited
fight” that “accelerates the road to a healthier and Covid-free
nation”.
India is the world’s second most infected nation with more
than 10.3 million cases and almost 150,000 deaths, although its
rate of infection has come down significantly from a mid-September
peak of more than 90,000 cases daily.
The government has already held nationwide drills in the
country of 1.3 billion people ahead of the mass vaccination drive
and some 96,000 health workers have been trained to administer the
shots.
The World Health Organization welcomed the news.
“The use of vaccine(s) in prioritised populations, along with
continued implementation of other public health measures and
community participation will be important in reducing the impact
of Covid-19,” WHO regional director Poonam Khetrapal Singh said in
a statement.
– Scepticism about vaccines –
The approvals came amid fears in India, like in other
countries, about the safety of the shots.
A recent survey of 18,000 people across India found that 69
percent were in no rush to get vaccinated.
“I was excited initially about the vaccine but not any more
because I don’t trust it. I am not going to be inoculated,” 58-
year-old banker Vijaya Das told AFP on Sunday, echoing fears
common across the country.
“No vaccine is 100 percent effective so what is the guarantee
that I won’t get the coronavirus after I take the vaccine,” added
48-year-old sales manager Suman Saurabh.
Anand Krishnan, a community medicine professor at the All
India Institute of Medical Sciences in New Delhi, said authorities
needed to publicly release more data about the vaccine trials.
“They have to share the results of the trial and let
scientists come to their own conclusion and that way, the vaccine
hesitancy would be much less,” Krishnan told AFP.
Both vaccines are to be administered in two doses and can be
transported and stored at normal refrigeration temperatures.
The Serum Institute of India, the world’s biggest
manufacturer of vaccines, has said it is making between 50 and 60
million doses a month of the AstraZeneca/Oxford vaccine.
Serum Institute chief executive Adar Poonawalla tweeted
following the approvals that the vaccine would be “ready to roll-
out in the coming weeks”.
Bharat Biotech has yet to complete its Phase III trials, but
Drugs Controller General Somani said the company’s jabs were
approved for restricted use in the “public interest as an abundant
precaution, in clinical trial mode, to have more options for
vaccinations, especially in case of infection by mutant strains”.
But he added to reporters after the briefing that the drug
regulator would “never approve anything if there is the slightest
safety concern”.
“The vaccines are 100 percent safe,” he said, adding that
side effects such as “mild fever, pain and allergy are common for
every vaccine”.
BSS/AFP/ARS/1649 hrs