AstraZeneca and Oxford University on Monday said their Covid-19 vaccine was up to 90% effective, brightening prospects of the much-awaited shot being available in India in the next few months. Serum Institute, AstraZeneca’s strategic manufacturing partner for the jab in India, said efficacy data from the Indian trials will be released in a month and the company will apply for emergency use by December end. The company said it will have 100 million doses ready by end of next month and these will be made available to the government for an early rollout. It has the capacity to ramp up production to 400 million doses by April 2021. It had earlier said it would price the vaccine at $2 a shot.
A government official said Serum Institute will get approval to introduce the vaccine once it submits its data, and market authorisation is granted by the regulatory authority in UK for the AstraZeneca shot. As ET had reported earlier, the AstraZeneca shot is one of Indias best hopes for an early vaccine. Unlike Pfizer and Modernas jab that have shown encouraging results, the AstraZeneca shot can be stored in a fridge at 3-8 degrees Celsius and wont require a super cold storage chain. In addition, phase-3 trials of the vaccine have been conducted by Serum Institute in the country.
Courtesyg: Google (photo)
