The government today cleared the fourth vaccine for emergency use in the country, the US-made Moderna, procured by Mumbai based pharmaceutical giant, Cipla. While granting the nod to Moderna, the Centre also announced that Pfizer in next in line to get the green signal.
Member of NITI Aayog, V.K. Paul, who heads the Covid task force, made the announcement at a press conference and said that “new drug permission has been granted to Moderna, the first internationally developed Covid vaccine”.
So far, India has three vaccines against the coronavirus — Serum Institute’s Covishield, Bharat Biotech’s Covaxin and recently cleared Sputnik V.
Dr Paul further cleared that the vaccine is still for restricted use and that Moderna will be administered in two doses.
Mumbai-based pharmaceutical company Cipla Ltd on Tuesday received approval from the DCGI to import the Covid-19 vaccine developed by Moderna Inc for restricted emergency use.
“I am pleased to inform that application received from Moderna through their Indian partner Cipla has been granted. This opens up the possibility of the vaccine being imported in the near future. Other formalities to follow. But important that licensure has been given,” said VK Paul.
The entry of Moderna vaccine will now accelerate India’s vaccination drive to inoculate as many people as soon as possible, strengthening country’s aim to inoculate all adults by the end of this year. The new drug would undoubtedly help better the supply constraints, besides allaying the fears of a possible third wave of the pandemic.
So far, India has administered more than 31.90 crore (32,90,29,510) vaccine doses, including 52,76,457 doses in the last 24 hours.