NITI Aayog member (Health) Dr VK Paul confirmed on June 29 that the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine has received emergency use authorisation from the Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI). With this official confirmation, Moderna becomes the fourth coronavirus vaccine to receive emergency use authorisation in India.
Dr VK Paul said: "An application received from Moderna through an Indian partner has received emergency use authorisation. This potentially opens up the likelihood of the vaccine being imported in the near future. This will be the fourth vaccine."
“There are now four vaccines in India -- Covaxin, Covishield, Sputnik V, and Moderna. We will soon close the deal on Pfizer as well,” the NITI Aayog member added.
Dr Paul added further said: “Moderna is coming as a ready-to-inject vaccine. We hope we manufacture the vaccine in India in the future. This vaccine needs to be kept in minus 20 degree temperature for seven-month long-term storage; normal cold chain storage will suffice if it is kept for a 30-day period.”
He also assured that all the four COVID-19 vaccines are safe for lactating mothers and that vaccines have no association with infertility.
This development comes shortly after pharmaceutical company Cipla received a regulatory nod from the DCGI to import the COVID-19 vaccine developed by United States-based biotechnology company Moderna Inc.
Notably, Moderna is similar to the anti-COVID-19 jab co-developed by US pharmaceutical giant Pfizer and is an mRNA vaccine. It is based on a two-dose regimen; both shots need to be administered at a gap of 28 days. The Moderna vaccine has demonstrated an efficacy of 90 percent.
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