Coronavirus vaccination may start in Jan 2021, says Adar Poonawalla

Serum Institute of India (SII) CEO Adar Poonawalla said on Saturday(Dec 12) that the vaccination drive of the coronavirus vaccine for priority groups may begin by January 2021. He also said that the actual license for wider usage will come in a later date.

SII is expecting to get emergency-use authorisation by the month-end. Adar Poonawalla said he expects everyone in India to be vaccinated by October 2021 after which he said, normal life could return.

“By this month-end, we might get an emergency licence [for the coronavirus vaccine], but the actual licence for wider use might come in at a later date. But we are confident that if the regulators give a nod, India’s vaccination drive can start by January 2021,” Adar Poonawalla said while speaking at the Economic Times Global Business Summit.

Earlier, an expert committee of the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO) sought additional safety and efficacy data for coronavirus vaccine candidates of Serum and Bharat Biotech after deliberating upon their applications seeking emergency use authorisation for the shots.

While considering Serum’s application for emergency use of their coronavirus vaccine candidate, the subject expert committee (SEC) on Covid-19 has recommended that the firm should submit an updated safety data of phases 2 and 3 clinical trials in the country, immunogenicity data from the clinical trial in the UK and India, along with the outcome of the assessment of the UK Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) for grant of emergency use authorisation.

Serum has presented their proposal for grant of emergency use authorisation along with interim safety data from phases 2 and 3 clinical trials carried out in the country and the interim safety and efficacy results of phases 2 and 3 trials and phase 3 clinical trials carried out in the UK, other countries and India before the committee.

Adar Poonawalla has said the government wants to procure 300-400 million doses by July 2021 and Serum is preparing to manufacture enough coronavirus vaccines for the government as well as private markets.

Meanwhile, the central government said that a total of 100 people are expected to get the anti-Covid-19 shots at each site per day. If sufficient resources are available then upto 200 people can be vaccinated.