The All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) Director Dr. Randeep Guleria said that India will have the COVID-19 vaccine within days. He made the statement after the Oxfor-AstraZeneca vaccine gets approval for use in the UK as a big step forward.
Dr. Guleria while quoted by ANI said, "This is very good news that AstraZeneca got approval for its vaccine by UK regulatory authorities. They have robust data and in India and the same vaccine is being developed by the Serum Institute of India. This is a big step forward not only for India but many parts of the world."
"This vaccine can be stored at two to eight degrees centigrade. Therefore it would be easy to store and transportation. Storage can be done using a simple fridge rather than what is required in the Pfizer vaccine of minus 70 degrees centigrade," added Dr. Guleria.
On the issue of COVID-19 vaccination drive in India, he said, "India to roll out COVID-19 vaccines for a large part of the country and therefore we will see the vaccine available in our country in the very near future."
Dr. Guleria, when asked about how much time is needed for the roll-out of the COVID vaccine in the country, he said, "Now, we have a data, and Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine has been approved based on the studies in UK, Brazil and South Africa. There is also data from the Serum Institute of India (SII). I think, once the data is shown to the regulatory authority, we should get approval for the vaccine in the county within a few days. I would say days rather than weeks or months." Dr. Guleria, who is a member of the national task force on Covid-19 management, said that the country has a "robust plan as far as the vaccination is concerned".
