BackLimited use of Oxford vaccine should be available in India by Dec-end or early Jan: Serum CEO
The vaccine will have maximum retail price of ₹1,000 for private market, says Adar PoonawallaSerum CEO says the company is having discussions with Indian govt about purchase agreement for the vaccine
PremiumNew Delhi: Hours after the promising Oxford-AstraZeneca Covid vaccine results being made public, Serum Institute Of India CEO on Monday said the company can supply up to 400 million doses of the vaccine by July 2021.
Adar Poonawalla told a business news channel that the company is aiming for India approval by year-end.
AstraZeneca said on Monday that an interim analysis of clinical trials of its COVID-19 vaccine in the UK and Brazil showed that it was 70 per cent effective on average, becoming the third drugmaker to announce promising results to contain the deadly virus.
The vaccine, developed with the University of Oxford, showed 90 per cent efficacy in one dosing regimen when the vaccine was given as a half dose, followed by a full dose at least a month later, and another dosing regimen showed 62 per cent efficacy when given as two full doses at least one month apart, AstraZeneca said in a statement.
"The combined analysis from both dosing regimens resulted in an average efficacy of 70 per cent," it added.
Poonawalla said limited use of the vaccine in India should be available anytime between December end and early January.
The vaccine will have maximum retail price of ₹1,000 for private market, Poonawalla said. He added that the company is having discussions with Indian government about purchase agreement for the vaccine.
He said Serum is keen to distribute the vaccine to India first before expanding to supply to rest of the world.
"Public acceptability is the only challenge to vaccine distribution," Poonawalla added.
Earlier on Monday, he said that he is delighted to hear that Covishield will offer protection up to 90% in one dosage regime and 62% in another.
"Delighted to hear that, Covishield, soon to be widely available COVID-19 vaccine, will offer protection up to 90 per cent in one dosage regime and 62 per cent in another," said Poonawalla.
The Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine is being made in partnership with Serum Institute.
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