Covishield May Soon Be Available In Medical Stores As SII Applies For Full Approval

Pune: Serum Institute of India (SII) has applied to the Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) and Union Health ministry for full market authorization of its COVID-19 vaccine Covishield.

Adar Poonawalla, the CEO of SII, tweeted on Friday that the Indian government now has enough data to consider a full market authorization of Oxford-AstraZeneca’s COVID which is produced under the brand name Covishield by the Pune-based firm.

Once the drug regulator and government give the go-ahead, Covishield will be available in medical stores.

Since being approved by DGCI for emergency use in January 2021, Covishield along with Bharat Biotech’s indigenously manufactured Covaxin has been used in India’s massive inoculation programme.

SII, the world’s biggest vaccine maker, has till date supplied over 1.25 billion doses of Covishield, which most Indians have received.

SII currently makes 240 million doses per month and is ready to export ‘large volumes’ from January, Poonawalla told Reuters.