India's Central Drugs Standard Control Organization (CDSCO) expert panel on Saturday approved the emergency use of the Covaxin COVID-19 vaccine, developed by the Bharat Biotech company, the Indian government said
NEW DELHI (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 02nd January, 2021) India's Central Drugs Standard Control Organization (CDSCO) expert panel on Saturday approved the emergency use of the Covaxin COVID-19 vaccine, developed by the Bharat Biotech company, the Indian government said.
On Friday, government sources told Sputnik that the Subject Expert Committee of the Indian Health Ministry recommended the emergency use of AstraZeneca's COVID-19 vaccine. In India, the vaccine developed by AstraZeneca/Oxford University is made by local producer Serum Institute and is known as Covishield.
"The Subject Expert Committee of CDSCO ... made the following recommendations for the consideration and final decision of the Drugs Controller General of India: Grant of permission for restricted emergency use of vaccine, subject to multiple regulatory conditionalities, to M/s Serum Institute of India, Pune. Grant of permission for restricted use in emergency situation ... to M/s Bharat Biotech International Ltd., Hyderabad," the government said in a statement.
The committee has also authorized Zydus Cadila's ZyCoV-D to begin phase 3 clinical trials.
India has the second-highest number of COVID-19 infections after the United States, with over 10.3 million cases in total and nearly 150,000 related deaths.
