Coronavirus vaccine update | India not to fix benchmark in selecting COVID-19 candidate: Report

India will explore all options for mass immunisation against the novel coronavirus and is not planning to follow the existing benchmark for vaccine selection, says a report by Mint.

The news report cites officials at the Centre saying that various benchmarks such as pricing, ease of administration and efficacy will be taken into consideration to determine the COVID-19 vaccine candidates.

The National Expert Group on Vaccine Administration will be responsible for setting up financial infrastructure and the logistics, among others things, to execute the mass vaccination drive when a vaccine candidate gets regulatory approval for inoculation.

The process of selecting a vaccine for mass vaccination in India differs from the approach in countries such as the United States and the United Kingdom. In the US, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has set a benchmark of 50 percent efficacy for a vaccine’s approval. Countries such as the UK have already signed deals for millions of vaccine doses, even of those candidates still in clinical trials.

At least five domestic manufacturers are working on indigenous vaccines: Serum Institute of India (SII), Bharat Biotech, Zydus Cadila, Gennova Biopharmaceuticals and Biological E.

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As of August 19, India had recorded 27.6 lakh COVID-19 cases, including over 52,800 deaths related to the infectious disease.

Acknowledging that fighting the COVID-19 pandemic was a major challenge, Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his Independence Day address had said that a vaccine against the disease was much-awaited. He added that three vaccines are in various phases of trials in the country and that the vaccination process will begin as soon as scientists give their approval.

The Prime Minister said that a roadmap to inoculate all citizens in the shortest possible time and plan for the vaccines’ mass production is ready.

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