COVID vaccine likely by January 2021, says Serum Institute CEO Poonawalla

The Chief Executive Officer(CEO) of Serum Institute of India(SII) Adar Poonawalla on Wednesday said that a vaccine against COVID-19 is likely to be available in India by January 2021. However, he said that it will be subject to approvals from regulatory bodies are in place in time.

Speaking with Mint, Poonawalla said, “Based on the success of the trials in India and the United Kingdom, and if approvals from regulatory bodies are in place in time, then we can expect the vaccine to be available in India by January 2021, only if its proven immunogenic and efficacious.”

Also Read: COVID-19 vaccine to be distributed for free in Assam: Health Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma

The Serum Institute of India is collaborating with AstraZeneca, a British-Swedish pharma to produce the potential Covid-19 vaccine Covishield.

The vaccine, developed by University of Oxford, is currently under the clinical trial phase 2/3 and will be produced by the Serum Institute of India for low-and-middle income countries.

Adar Poonawalla said that the vaccine has already been tried upon thousands of people in India and abroad without any safety concerns, but according to him it might take around two to three years to make sure of the long-term effects of the vaccine.

Also Read: COVID-19 vaccine trial volunteer dies in Brazil; AstraZeneca trials to continue

“The current data pertaining to the trials show that there are no immediate concerns pertaining to Covishield,”, said Poonawalla. “So far, thousands of people have had it in India and abroad with no safety concerns,”, Poonawalla added.

Serum Institute of India has also tied-up with Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, to accelerate the manufacturing and delivery of up to 100 million doses of Covid-19 vaccines for all the third world countries along with India.

Also Read: COVID-19 vaccine maybe ready by December, available in market by March 2021: Report