All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) Delhi Director Dr. Randeep Guleria on Wednesday claimed that India will get the Covid-19 vaccine within a few days rather than weeks or months.
Hailing the approval of Oxford University-AstraZeneca vaccine by the United Kingdom (UK), Dr Guleria said that it was good news not only for India but many other parts of the world.
"This is very good news that AstraZeneca got approval for its vaccine by UK regulatory authorities. They have robust data and in India and the same vaccine is being developed by the Serum Institute of India. This is a big step forward not only for India but many parts of the world," Dr. Guleria told news agency ANI.
He added that the vaccine can be stored at two to eight degrees centigrade and therefore, it would be easier to store and transport it. Storage will be more convenient by using a simple fridge rather than maintaining minus 70 degrees centigrade for the Pfizer vaccine.
While talking about the Covid-19 vaccination drive in India, Dr. Guleria said, India will roll out COVID-19 vaccines for a large part of the country and therefore we will see the vaccine available in our country very soon.
"Now, we have data, and Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine has been approved based on the studies in UK, Brazil and South Africa. There is also data from Serum Institute of India (SII). I think, once the data is shown to the regulatory authority, we should get approval for the vaccine in the county within a few days. I would say days rather than weeks or months," he said while talking the duration expected for the rolling out of Covid-19 vaccine in India.
In the meantime, the Pune-based Serum Institute of India has applied for emergency approval for the Covid-19 vaccine "Covisheild" which is developed with AstraZeneca and Oxford University.
