Centre refutes reports of 'rejecting' Serum Institute & Bharat Biotech's COVID vaccines

Refuting media reports on the rejection of two COVID-19 vaccines, Ministry of Health & Family Welfare on Wednesday said that the report about the rejection of Serum Institute and Bharat Biotech's emergency use authorisation of vaccine is fake. Several reports had stated the Subject Expert Committee of the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO), had not cleared applications of Serum Institute of India and Bharat Biotech seeking emergency use of their COVID vaccines. The Drug Controller of India (DGCI) will take a final call on any vaccine's suitability.

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64 diplomats visit Bharat Biotech

Earlier in the day, 64 diplomats visited the premises of Hyderabad-based Bharat Biotech which is to produce Covid vaccine Covaxin. 6 vaccine candidates in clinical trial stage in India the premises of Hyderabad-based Bharat Biotech which is to produce Covid vaccine Covaxin. During the visit, Bharat Biotech's Chairman and Managing Director Dr Krishna Ella informed the Foreign Heads of Mission that nearly 33% of global vaccines are produced in Hyderabad's Genome Valley. PM Modi has already visited Ahmedabad, Pune and Hyderabad, where the three vaccines are being manufactured.

Centre’s Principal Economic Advisor talks COVID vaccine, shares need for 'mass-scaling'

Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan on Tuesday said that there are six COVID-19 vaccine candidates in different clinical trial stages being developed by various manufacturers in India. Besides this, three COVID-19 vaccine candidates are in the pre-clinical stage of which one of the Coronavirus vaccine candidates is in the pre-development stage being researched by Aurobindo Pharma, the official said. On December 2, the UK became the first country in the world to authorise the use of Pfizer and BioNTech for emergency purposes, thus, paving way for the delivery of the vaccines.

64 Foreign heads of mission visit Bharat Biotech; witness India's vaccine capabilities 

• Bharat Biotech - ICMR (BBV 152): Phase I & Phase- 2 clinical trials have completed. Phase-3 trials are ongoing at 25 centres across India with a total of 26,000 participants. Application for emergency use filed. 
• Cadila-Zydus (ZyCOV-D): Phase I clinical trials completed, revealing its safety. Enrolment and dosing of 1,000 volunteers for Phase-2 clinical trials completed, is likely to enter Phase III final stage of clinical trials by December.
• Serum-ICMR & Oxford-AstraZeneca (ChAdOx1-S): Globally, this vaccine is undergoing phase-3 clinical trials in Brazil. In India, enrollment for phase-3 clinical trials completed with 1,600 participants at 15 locations. The trials were halted briefly when AstraZeneca paused trials due to a volunteer inflicted with a strange disease. After Oxford conducted safety evaluations, DCGI allowed India trials to resume. Application for emergency use filed.

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