Moderna’s one-shot vax in India likely next year
Pfizer ready with 50 mn doses for 2021, wants key regulatory relaxations WHO nod for Covaxin likely by Sept: Bharat Bio
Moderna expects to launch a single-dose Covid-19 vaccine in India next year, and is in talks with Cipla, among other Indian firms, while another US giant Pfizer is ready to offer 50 million shots in 2021 itself, but it wants significant regulatory relaxations including indemnification, sources said on Tuesday.
Moderna is expecting to launch a single-dose Covid-19 vaccine in India next year and is in talks with Cipla among other Indian firms, while another US giant Pfizer is ready to offer 50 million shots in 2021 itself but it wants significant regulatory relaxations including indemnification, sources said on Tuesday.
While Moderna has conveyed to Indian authorities that it does not have surplus vaccines to share in 2021, there are limited prospects of Johnson & Johnson exporting its jabs from the US to other countries in the near future, the sources privy to discussions added.
Two rounds of high-level meetings chaired by the Cabinet Secretary were held last week on the availability of vaccines in the global as well as domestic markets as it was felt that there is an urgent need to procure the jabs at a time the country is reeling under an unprecedented second wave of Covid-19 and a widening gap between supply and requirement.
Currently, the country is using two 'made-in India' jabs —Covishield and Covaxin — to inoculate its billion-plus population and has administered 2 billion doses since launching the world's largest vaccination drive in mid-january. A third vaccine, Russian-made Sputnik V, has been approved by the government and is being used on a smaller scale at present.
In the high-level meeting officials from the Ministry of External Affairs, NITI Aayog, Department of Biotechnology, Law Ministry and Health Ministry were present.
It was discussed that Moderna doesn't have surplus vaccines to share in 2021 and that it plans to launch its single-dose vaccine for the Indian market only in 2022, for which, they are in discussion with Cipla and other Indian companies, a source said.
Bharat Biotech on Tuesday said it expects regulatory approvals from the World Health Organization (WHO) for Covaxin by July-september.
The statement comes amid fear that Indians who have been vaccinated with the indigenously developed Covid19 shot might find it difficult to travel abroad until WHO puts it in Emergency Use Listing (EUL). The company said the application for full EUL has been submitted to WHO, Geneva, and the regulatory approvals are expected within July to September. Bharat Biotech also said the regulatory approvals for Covaxin are in process in more than 60 countries, including the US, Brazil, and Hungary.