The world’s largest manufacturer of vaccines, the Serum Institute of India (SSI) is going to apply for the emergency use authorisation for the Covishield COVID-19 vaccine developed by University of Oxford and AstraZeneca in two weeks, reports Economic Times.
Adar Poonawalla whos the chief executive officer (CEO) SII met with Prime Minister (PM) Narendra Modi, who had visited the facilities of the pharma companies which are working on the development of vaccines against the disease in Pune.
SII is in the process of applying to the Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) and will submit data to the authority for analysis.
According to Poonawalla, the Government would purchase as many as 30-40 crore doses of the Covishield vaccine from SII by June 2021.
It is clear that the vaccine will first be distributed in India, and thereafter in COVAX countries, which are mainly in Africa. He stated, “The UK and European markets are being taken care of by AstraZeneca and Oxford. Out priority is India and COVAX countries.”
Pooonawalla also said he was very impressed by the amazing knowledge of vaccines PM Modi has.