India is likely to approve coronavirus vaccine being developed by British drugmaker AstraZeneca Plc and University of Oxford for emergency use by next week after its local manufacturer submitted additional data sought by authorities, two sources aware of the development told Reuters on Tuesday.
After the approval, India would be the first country to give the regulatory green light to the Oxford/AstraZeneca’s coronavirus vaccine as the British medicine regulator continues to examine data from clinical trials. India is world’s biggest vaccine-making country and wants to start inoculating its population of 1,380,004,385 people from next month. It is also considering emergency use authorisation applications for Pfizer Inc. and Bharat Biotech coronavirus vaccine.
AstraZeneca’s coronavirus vaccine is considered to be significant for lower-income countries with hot climates as it is cheaper, easier to store for long period of time at normal refrigerator temperature. On December 9, India’s Central Drugs Standard Control Organization (CDSCO) firstly reviewed the three applications and sought additional information from all the companies, including from Serum Institute of India (SII), the local maker of AstraZeneca vaccine.