India could authorise COVID-19 vaccines in weeks, 300 million on priority list

“There are multiple vaccine candidates in different stages of development and some of them may get licensed in the next few weeks,” federal health secretary Rajesh Bhushan told a press briefing in New Delhi.

Reuters

December 09, 2020 / 20:52 IST

India may approve some coronavirus vaccines over the next few weeks and an estimated 300 million people would be innoculated in the first tranche, the country’s top health official said on Tuesday.

“There are multiple vaccine candidates in different stages of development and some of them may get licensed in the next few weeks,” federal health secretary Rajesh Bhushan told a press briefing in New Delhi.

Over the weekend, Pfizer Inc sought emergency-use authorisation in India, followed by Astra Zeneca’s Covishield vaccine, which is being manufactured in India by the Serum Institute of India.

Bhushan said India’s Bharat Biotech has also sought emergency-use authorization from the Indian drug regulator for its COVID-19 vaccine, called Covaxin, which it is developing in collaboration with the government-run Indian Council of Medical Research.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government has identified 300 million people, including healthcare workers, policemen, and citizens above the age of 50, who would be administered a vaccine on a priority basis, Bhushan said.

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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