The World Health Organization on Monday said that India has been offered 75 lakh doses of the Moderna vaccine through the Covid-19 Vaccines Global Access, reported ANI.
COVAX, which is co-led by Gavi, the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations and the WHO, aims to speed up the development and manufacturing of Covid-19 vaccines. It also works to guarantee fair and equitable access to the shots for every country in the world.
However, there was no clarity on when the Moderna vaccines would be available in India as the WHO said that it was based on the “clearance of indemnity clause”, reported India Today.
NITI Aayog (Health) Member Dr VK Paul on Friday said that the Centre was in contact with the foreign vaccine makers. “It is a process of negotiation and dialogues,” he said. “We are trying to get a solution on contractual and commitments issues. This process is ongoing.”
On June 29, India’s drug regulator had granted permission to import Moderna’s Covid-19 vaccine for restricted emergency use. It was the fourth vaccine to be granted permission for emergency use in India after Covishield, Covaxin and Sputnik V.
Moderna had said in November that its vaccine had proven to be 94.5% effective against the coronavirus during its phase three trials. The vaccine was also found to be safe and effective on children aged between 12 and 17.
WHO South Asia Regional Director Poonam Khetrapal Singh on Monday also said that emergency use approval for Bharat Biotech’s Covaxin was under review after the company submitted a dossier.
“For Covaxin, an expression of interest for EUL [emergency use listing] has been made to WHO by Bharat Biotech,” she told ANI. “WHO has already conducted a pre-submission meeting with the company following which a dossier has been submitted by Bharat Biotech to WHO in early July.”
On July 9, the global health agency’s Chief Scientist Soumya Swaminathan said that the decision related to Covaxin was expected within six weeks.
The Centre had on May 27 said that it was in talks with manufacturers of coronavirus vaccines such as Pfizer, Johnson & Johnson and Moderna since “mid-2020” and has offered them all assistance for supply and manufacture of their shots in India.
Meanwhile, India on Tuesday morning recorded 30,093 new cases of coronavirus in the last 24 hours, as the country’s tally of infections since the outbreak of the pandemic in January last year rose to 3,11,74,322. The number was 21.14% less than Monday’s tally of 38,164 cases.
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