India likely to approve two-dose regimen for Covid vaccine, report says

India's drugs regulator is likely to approve administering two doses of the AstraZeneca/Oxford vaccine and another locally-developed one by Bharat Biotech, each four weeks apart, a Reuters report said on Sunday.

Experts at India's Central Drugs Standards Control Organisation (CDSCO) have already approved the vaccines and a final decision is expected to be announced by the agency's chief at a news conference scheduled on Sunday.

A government minister said earlier the AstraZeneca/Oxford vaccine had been given the green light on Friday, paving the way for a huge immunisation campaign in the world's second most populous country.

The process for the final approval is expected to be a formality given the urgency for a vaccine in the country with the highest number of COVID-19 infections in the world after the United States.

The other vaccine, known as COVAXIN, has been developed locally by Bharat Biotech and the government-run Indian Council of Medical Research. Citing sources, Reuters reported on Friday that the shot could be approved, though little is known about the results of its clinical trials.

The CDSCO is expected to announce the dosage and other details about the shot later. SII had applied for a two full-dose regime about 28 days apart.

India has reported more than 10.3 million COVID-19 cases and around 150,000 deaths, though its rate of infection has come down significantly from a mid-September peak.
The country hopes to inoculate 300 million of its 1.35 billion people in the first six to eight months of this year.

SII, the world's biggest producer of vaccines, has already stockpiled about 50 million doses of the AstraZeneca/Oxford shot, which will be sold to the government at about 250 rupees ($3.42) per dose and 1,000 rupees on the private market.