COVID Vaccination in India May Start in January: Adar Poonawalla

Poonawalla said he expected everyone in India to be vaccinated by Oct 2021, after which normal life could return.

Mumbai’s civic body, the BMC, has drawn up a blueprint to store, transport and distribute COVID vaccines as soon as it’s ready.

Photo: The Quint/Aroop Mishra

COVID vaccination drive in India by the Serum Institute of India (SII) is likely to begin by January 2021, said the firm’s CEO Adar Poonawalla. SII has been testing and manufacturing the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine candidate Covishield.

Speaking at The Economic Times Global Business Summit, Adar Poonawalla said he expected everyone in India to be vaccinated by October 2021, following which normal life could return, reported The Indian Express.

“By this month-end, we might get an emergency licence, but the actual licence for wider use might come in at a later date. But we are confident that if the regulators give a nod, India’s vaccination drive can start by January 2021,” Adar Poonawalla said.

“Once 20 percent of India gets the coronavirus vaccine, we can hopefully see the confidence and sentiments coming back, and by September-October next year hopefully there will be enough vaccines for everyone and normal life can return,” he added.

The Serum Institute of India (SII) on 6 December, had become the first Indian company to seek emergency use authorisation for the Oxford COVID-19 vaccine from Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI). The phase-three clinical trial of the Oxford COVID-19 vaccine, Covishield, is being conducted by the SII in India on around 1,600 participants.

The interim results of the Oxford Covid-19 vaccine trials, published in The Lancet, show that the vaccine protects against symptomatic disease in 70 percent of the cases, with vaccine efficacy of 62 percent for those given two full doses, and of 90 percent in those given a half, and then a full dose.