Awaiting India’s approval for COVISHIELD: SII 

Serum Institute of India (SII) lauded the approval of Oxford-AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine in the UK and stated that the company would now wait for the final nod for the medication in India.

Today, the UK approved the Oxford University/AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine for human use, the second to be cleared in Britain after the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine.

“This is great and encouraging news. We will wait for the final approval from Indian regulators,” SII CEO Adar Poonawalla said in a statement.

SII has entered into a collaboration with the University of Oxford and AstraZeneca to manufacture the vaccine.

The company has applied to the Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) seeking emergency use authorisation (EUA) for COVID-19 vaccine in India. There are reports that an expert panel called for a meeting, a few hours after UK’s approval for the vaccine to consider SII’s application for EUA in India.

(with inputs from agency reports)