COVID-19 vaccine by Oxford-AstraZeneca may get Centre’s approval in next few days: Report

India may not wait for the regulator in the United Kingdom to approve the Oxford-AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine candidate, once evaluation of the data is complete.

Moneycontrol News

December 28, 2020 / 08:21 AM IST

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India is likely to grant emergency use authorisation to the Oxford University-AstraZeneca vaccine against COVID-19 in the next few days as the updated data submitted by the Serum Institute of India (SII) is 'satisfactory', The Times of India reported citing top government sources.

The Indian government may not wait for the United Kingdom’s Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) to grant an approval for the vaccine candidate, once evaluation of the data is complete, the report suggests.

Moneycontrol could not independently verify the report.

Authorities in the UK are also evaluating data from clinical trials of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine and may grant an approval in the meanwhile.

COVID-19 Vaccine Tracker: What you need to know about manufacturing and pricing

COVID-19 Vaccine

Frequently Asked Questions

How does a vaccine work?

A vaccine works by mimicking a natural infection. A vaccine not only induces immune response to protect people from any future COVID-19 infection, but also helps quickly build herd immunity to put an end to the pandemic. Herd immunity occurs when a sufficient percentage of a population becomes immune to a disease, making the spread of disease from person to person unlikely. The good news is that SARS-CoV-2 virus has been fairly stable, which increases the viability of a vaccine.

How many types of vaccines are there?

There are broadly four types of vaccine — one, a vaccine based on the whole virus (this could be either inactivated, or an attenuated [weakened] virus vaccine); two, a non-replicating viral vector vaccine that uses a benign virus as vector that carries the antigen of SARS-CoV; three, nucleic-acid vaccines that have genetic material like DNA and RNA of antigens like spike protein given to a person, helping human cells decode genetic material and produce the vaccine; and four, protein subunit vaccine wherein the recombinant proteins of SARS-COV-2 along with an adjuvant (booster) is given as a vaccine.

What does it take to develop a vaccine of this kind?

Vaccine development is a long, complex process. Unlike drugs that are given to people with a diseased, vaccines are given to healthy people and also vulnerable sections such as children, pregnant women and the elderly. So rigorous tests are compulsory. History says that the fastest time it took to develop a vaccine is five years, but it usually takes double or sometimes triple that time.

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