Oxford jab to be approved in India with 50m shots ready to go

An elderly Indian Farmer sits with his grandson at the back of their trailer on the highway to Delhi
An elderly Indian Farmer sits with his grandson at the back of their trailer on the highway to Delhi

India on Friday was set to approve the Oxford coronavirus vaccine for emergency use, paving the way for one of the world's largest vaccination programmes.

The vaccination process would start in the next two weeks, a source at India's health ministry said, giving welcome respite to the world's second-worst affected country.

India is said to have 50 million stockpiled doses - far more than the UK - manufactured by the Serum Institute in India under a licencing deal with Astrazeneca.

However, under government plans only 300 million - roughly 25 per cent - of India's 1.3 billion people will likely be vaccinated by August.

Some of the shots will be paid for by donors like the UK to the Gavi alliance, as part of a global collaboration to speed up the development, manufacture and equitable distribution of coronavirus vaccines to low and middle income countries.

It was announced last year that the Serum Institute would receive $150 million in funding from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the Gavi vaccines alliance to make 100 million Covid-19 vaccine doses for India and other emerging economies.

India will now start to conduct a nationwide vaccination dry run - a process in which participants receive dummy covid vaccines to test mechanisms and reveal possible gaps in the system ahead of the actual vaccination drive.

“We have prepared detailed guidelines on vaccination. Everything in this has been kept very clear and free. In case of adverse events during vaccination, we have also made arrangements to monitor that,” said Health Minister Harsh Vardhan.

While Prime Minister Narendra Modi has promised everyone will be vaccinated in India, the Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan said there was no need to vaccinate the country's entire population.

Out of 1.3 billion people, Bhushan said 300 million people from priority groups would be vaccinated first.

These include 10 million healthcare workers, 20 million frontline workers and 270 million people over 50 and under 50 with co-morbidities.

Covishield, as the Oxford vaccination is called in India, can be stored in a refrigerator at 2-8 degree temperatures, making it a preferred option for India that lacks adequate cold-storage facilities for the jab's such as Pfizer's.

At 10.3 million cases, India has reported the second-highest number of coronavirus cases after the United States, though its rate of infection has come down significantly from a mid-September peak.

India will now require the WHO prequalification to export the vaccine to other countries that may take at least a month.

The SII and AstraZeneca aim to develop 3.2 billion doses of coronavirus vaccines at their facilities in India.

If India gets 190-250 million shots under Gavi alliance, it'll still need about $1.4 billion to fund the phase 1 programme.

World Bank has approved $1 billion for India, allowing it to use these funds for any aspect of the vaccine programme.