India to have Corona Vaccine within few days: AIIMS Director
New Delhi, 31/12: AIIMS Director Dr Randeep Guleria said India will have COVID 19 Vaccine within a few days. He termed the approval of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine for emergency use in the UK as a ‘big step forward’.
In an Interview with ANI Dr. Guleria said, “This is very good news that AstraZeneca got approval for its vaccine by UK regulatory authorities. They have robust data and in India and the same vaccine is being developed by the Serum Institute of India. This is a big step forward not only for India but many parts of the world.”
“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,” he added.
He addressed the COVID 19 vaccine distribution in India and said, “India to roll out COVID-19 vaccines for a large part of the country and therefore we will see the vaccine available in our country in the very near future.”
“Now, we have data, and Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine has been approved based on the studies in UK, Brazil and South Africa. There is also data from the 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.” Dr Guleria, who is a member of the national task force on Covid-19 management, said that the country has a “robust plan as far as the vaccination is concerned,” Dr. Guleria said when asked about the time that is required to roll-out the vaccine.
He also addressed the storage issue of the vaccine and said, “We vaccinate children and pregnant women as part of our universal immunization program. Using the same platform to store vaccines at 2 to 8 degrees centigrade, it will be easier for us to store COVID-19 vaccine.,”
Yesterday Adar Poonawala, Chief of the Serum Institute of India has requested the Government for emergency use of the vaccine Covishield– developed along with global pharma giant AstraZeneca and Oxford University.