India is likely to have the COVID-19 vaccine within days, AIIMS Director Dr Randeep Guleria on December 30 has said.
Speaking to ANI, Guleria said sufficient data was available from Serum Institute of India (SII) on the Oxford-AstraZenca vaccine against the coronavirus.
"Now, we have a data, and Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine has been approved based on the studies in UK, Brazil and South Africa. There is also data from Serum Institute of India (SII). I think, once the data is shown to the regulatory authority, we should get approval for the vaccine in the county within a few days. I would say days rather than weeks or months," Guleria told the news agency.
Guleria called the approval of the Oxford-AstraZenca vaccine candidate a "big step forward" not just for India but several parts of the world as well.
Also read: AstraZeneca/Oxford vaccine | 5 things to know about landmark UK vaccine
He added that the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine was easy to store and transport since it required temperatures 2 to 8 degrees centigrade, similar to that of a fridge.
"This vaccine can be stored at two to eight degrees centigrade. Therefore it would be easy to store and transportation. Storage can be done using a simple fridge rather than what is required in the Pfizer vaccine of minus 70 degrees centigrade," Guleria told ANI.
In India, Pune-based SII will manufacture the vaccine developed by British-Swedish drugmaker AstraZeneca and the University of Oxford.
The nod for the vaccine candidate in the UK will strengthen the case for quick approval of the SII's application for emergency use in India.
The Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO) said an expert panel would meet on January 1 to further review applications by SII and Bharat Biotech for their vaccine candidates.