This allows the vaccines to be offered to healthcare workers and frontline workers in India; Neither Covishield nor Covaxin has completed a crucial phase-3 trial in India.
Vaccines by Bharat Biotech and Serum Institute of India (SII) were formally approved by the Central Drugs and Standards Committee (CDSCO) on Sunday.
This allows the vaccines — Covishield from SII and based on the Oxford AstraZeneca vaccine, and Covaxin from by Bharat Biotech — to be offered to healthcare workers and frontline workers in India. The Health Ministry has said 3 crore such personnel, considered at highest risk for COVID-19, will be given the vaccine for free. It isn’t yet known which vaccine will be made available to these personnel though multiple officials say rollouts can begin in less than a fortnight.
Neither Covishield nor Covaxin has completed a crucial phase-3 trial, under which a vaccine candidate is administered to volunteers at multiple locations across the country, in India….