As per the WSJ report, to promote the Covid-19 vaccination drive in India and relieve the burden of the production of vaccines, the Centre is in talks with western vaccine producers to acquire tens of millions of doses in the next few months. The officials reported that India is in gab to acquire 50 million doses of a vaccine manufactured by Pfizer Inc. and BioNTech SE.
“It is also expecting to receive about seven million doses of a vaccine made by Moderna Inc. from the U.S. through Covax, a program to supply Covid-19 vaccines to poorer nations,” the report further stated.
Recently, Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya announced on Saturday that the US-based pharma giant Johnson & Johnson’s single-dose COVID-19 vaccine had been granted Emergency Use permission in India. This is the fifth Covid-19 vaccine to get emergency endorsement in the country. He said this would further encourage the country’s collective fight against coronavirus infection.
Further, the minister tweeted, “India expands its vaccine basket! Johnson and Johnson’s single-dose COVID-19 vaccine is approved for Emergency Use in India. Now India has five EUA vaccines. This will further boost our nation’s collective fight against #COVID19”.
The pharma company asserted that it is a significant milestone that flags the approach to bringing the single-dose COVID-19 vaccine to the people of India, and the rest of the world, through an association with Biological E. Limited. The five vaccines conferred Emergency Use Authorisation in India are Serum Institute’s Covishield, Bharat Biotech’s Covaxin, Russia’s Sputnik V, Moderna, and now Johnson & Johnson (J&J).
In a bid to fast-track emergency endorsements for all foreign-produced coronavirus jabs, the central government had declared that COVID-19 vaccines which were approved for restrained use by regulators in the US, UK, Europe, and Japan, or which were on the World Health Organisation’s Emergency Use Listing, would not have to direct linking clinical trials in India.In terms of managing booster vaccine shots in the country, senior government officials and NITI Aayog Member (Health) Dr. VK Paul stated that the national expert committee on Covid-19 vaccination had discussed giving booster vaccine doses. It is being observed very profoundly. He stated it must be taken as a work in progress as science is still developing in this area.
Simultaneously, Paul also remarked that the WHO has requested a moratorium on booster doses.
