India approves COVID-19 vaccines ahead of huge rollout
India has granted emergency approval to COVID-19 vaccines developed by AstraZeneca and Oxford University and one from the state-run institute Bharat Biotech, ahead of a huge immunisation drive that is planned to begin this week.
The country, which has a population of more than 1.3 billion, has the second-largest virus outbreak after the US. According to research carried out by Johns Hopkins University, India has more than 10.3 million confirmed coronavirus cases and more than 149,000 deaths.
The announcement comes as Bharat Biotch's Covaxin vaccine is still in stage 3 clinical trials in India and the final results are yet to be released.
In a statement, the Drugs Controller General of India said: “The Phase III efficacy trial was initiated in India in 25,800 volunteers and [to] date, 22,500 participants have been vaccinated across the country and the vaccine has been found to be safe as per the data available.”
India is the second country to approve the AstraZeneca-Oxford vaccine after the UK approved it last week.
Last week, the World Health Organization (WHO) listed the Comirnaty COVID-19 mRNA vaccine for emergency use, making the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine the first to receive emergency validation from WHO since the pandemic began a year ago.
The WHO’s Emergency Use Listing (EUL) opens the door for countries to expedite their own regulatory approval processes to import and administer the vaccine. It also enables the United Nations Children's Fund and the Pan-American Health Organization to procure the vaccine for distribution to countries in need.
In October, India alongside South Africa, asked the World Trade Organization (WTO) to waive some stipulations governing IP so that treatments to combat COVID-19 can become more widely available, particularly in low-income countries.
In the letter, issued on October 2, the two countries warned the organisation that certain parts of the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS), that cover IP, could prevent or delay access to essential medical products.
While the WTO held discussions later that month to address the issue, member states declined to suspend provisions of TRIPS.
Did you enjoy reading this story? Sign up to our free daily newsletters and get stories sent like this straight to your inbox.