AIIMS Director says Covid-19 vaccinations in India will start in a few days.
Key points:
- AIIMS Delhi Director Dr Randeep Guleria said the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine being approved for use in the UK.
- It is possible to store this vaccine at two to eight degrees centigrade. It would then be easy to store and carry.
- This comes in the background of the Covid-19 cases in the country that reached Wednesday’s 10.22 million marks.
AIIMS Delhi Director Dr Randeep Guleria said the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine being approved for use in the UK was a “big step ahead” in the face of concerns about the new strain of coronavirus (Covid-19) spreading in India, though India was days away from receiving a vaccine.
1.Randeep Guleria during an interview with ANI:
This is really good news that UK regulatory authorities have licensed AstraZeneca for its vaccine. They have solid data, and India’s Serum Institute is developing the same vaccine in India (SII).
“Not only for India but for many places of the world, this is a huge step forward,” Guleria told ANI during an interview.
It will be easier for us to store Covid-19 vaccines:
It is possible to store this vaccine at two to eight degrees centigrade. It would then be easy to store and carry.
Instead of what is needed in the Pfizer vaccine of minus 70 degrees centigrade, storage can be achieved using a simple refrigerator,’ he said. “As part of our compulsory immunization policy, we vaccinate infants and pregnant women. It would be easier for us to store Covid-19 vaccines by using a similar platform to store vaccines at 2 to 8 degrees centigrade,” he continued.
We should get approval for the vaccine Dr Randeep Guleria:
We already have data, and the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine has been authorized in the UK, Brazil, including South Africa based on studies.
Data by SII is also accessible. I think we can get authorization for the vaccine in the county within a couple of days, once the data is shown to the regulatory authority. Instead of weeks or even months, I would say days,” he said.
40-50 million vaccine doses have been already prepared Adar Poonawalla stated:
Besides that, along with global pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca and Oxford University, Pune-based SII has sought emergency authorization for the vaccine—Covishield—developed.
On Monday, company CEO Adar Poonawalla said that the rollout of Covishield is scheduled in January as well as 40-50 million vaccine doses have been
already processed.
According to Health Ministry data:
This comes in the background of the Covid-19 cases in the country that reached Wednesday’s 10.22 million marks.
There have been 262,272 active cases of Covid-19, and 98,341,41 patients have recovered from the infection so far, as per the Health Ministry website. As many as 148,439 people have lost their lives because of the disease.
