admin The biggest vaccination drive in the world is all set to begin as India receives an approval from the expert panel. The vaccine was developed by the Oxford University and AstraZeneca and the decision of allowing usage has been taken by the Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI).
this news also coincides with the WHO giving a nod to Pfizer as the first vaccine against the pandemic. At present, Pfizer is still under review in India along with other vaccinations.
This vaccine has already been approved by the United Kingdom as well as Argentina and rollout process has begun for both these countries.
This vaccine is the first to receive approval in India and comes on the day of new year. More than 50 million dosages have already been prepared by the Serum Institute of India and they are all ready to begin with the vaccination drive. Only an approval was waited.
This vaccine is especially useful for a country like India as it can be stored between the temperatures of four to eight degrees Celsius making it easier to administer. Pfizer on the other hand would require a storage of -70 degrees which proved to be a major hurdle in India and more such countries.
This vaccine has a proven efficacy of 70% and is a low-cost vaccine available at $2. The United States is also assessing the vaccine and it says that it plans to approve it somewhere in the month of April. Their vaccination drive has already begun with Pfizer and a number of people have been vaccinated.
This Covishield will require two doses at a gap of four weeks for the best possible efficiency and at the same time would take about 21 days to build a robust immunity response.
The Indian government is still waiting for more data on the Pfizer vaccine before granting approval to the same. All the states in India have now been told to prepare for a dry run to better understand the logistical demands of the same and rollout for the vaccines will now begin in a very short span of time.
Magazine 
