Nepal approves use of AstraZeneca's COVID-19 vaccine Covishield produced in India

AstraZeneca-Oxford’s COVID-19 vaccine dubbed and manufactured in India as ‘Covishield’ has been approved in Nepal on January 15, reported news agency ANI citing Nepal government. Recently, India had approved the vaccine developed by AstraZeneca and Oxford University, AZD1222, dubbed in India as Covishield and manufactured at Serum Institute of India (SII), Pune. Now, the vaccine produced in India has also been approved by Nepal Prime Minister KP Oli’s government against the novel coronavirus. AstraZeneca had signed an agreement with SII for the production of at least 1 billion doses of its experimental vaccine.

Covishield has already shown the efficacy of 90 per cent and 62 per cent in two different dosing regimes. The AstraZeneca-Oxford COVID-19 vaccine should not be administered to those who have a pre-existing severe allergic reaction during the first dose or have an identified allergy to any of the vaccine’s ingredients. The SII, in its document also catalogued the ingredients of the vaccine - L-Histidine, L- Histidine hydrochloride monohydrate, Magnesium chloride hexahydrate, Polysorbate 80, Ethanol, Sucrose, Sodium chloride and Disodium edetate dihydrate (EDTA).

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‘Covishield safe with negligible side-effects’

As states began receiving the first shipment of vaccines before the mass vaccination drive in India starts on January 16, NITI Aayog Member Dr VK Paul while addressing a press conference on January 12 that both COVID-19 vaccines approved in India, Covishield and Covaxin are safe with ‘negligible side-effects’.  The NITI Aayog Member further stated that the two approved Coronavirus vaccines "are safest of the vaccines". He also thanked the Indian Medical Association (IMA) for accepting and supporting the two vaccines being manufactured in the country. Covaxin is India’s indigenous COVID-19 developed by Bharat Biotech in collaboration with the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) - National Institute of Virology (NIV). 

NITI Aayog Member Dr VK Paul said, "Both the vaccines (Covishield and Covaxin) have been authorized for emergency use and there should be no doubt about their safety. They have been tested on thousands of people and side-effects are negligible. There is no risk of any significance," Dr Paul said at a press conference."

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