Bharat Biotech plans Feb launch for Covid-19 vaccine, AstraZeneca hoping to demonstrate efficacy by 2020 end

Photo Credits: REUTERS

As the global count of the Covid-19 cases is closely touching the 50 million mark, the Covid-19 vaccine hunt is getting swifter day by day. Regarding the recent details of the Covid-19 vaccine in India, Bharat Biotech International Limited has announced on Thursday for the launch of potential Covid-19 vaccine termed COVAXIN to be planned for February 2021, which would put the first Indian vaccine in the market.

Earlier, the Hyderabad-based company had stated the launch of the vaccine would only be possible in the second quarter of 2021. Bharat Biotech in collaboration with Indian Council for Medical Research (ICMR) are going to initiate the late-stage clinical trials of COVAXIN by this month. Senior ICMR scientist, Rajini Kant revealed to news agency REUTERS, “The vaccine has shown good efficacy.”

Along side, AstraZeneca’s CEO, Pascal Soriot stated the British-Swedish multinational firm is hoping to determine their potential Covid-19 vaccine’s efficacy by the end of 2020. Addressing the issue on a conference call with the analysts, Soriot stated AstraZeneca would be all-set and prepared to provide for millions of doses of  ovid-19 vaccine globally by January 2021. AstraZeneca, in partnership with University of Oxford, is developing a vaccine termed ‘AZD1222’ which is currently in late-stage trials across United States.

Further on, the government of Hungary has revealed their plan to import some quantities of Russian vaccine, Sputnik V, for the month of December, for final testing and licensing purposes. Russia has formalized the agreement to provide vaccines doses of Sputnik V to Brazil and Argentina also.

The Prime Minister of Australia, Scott Morrison, made an announcement on Thursday regarding the country’s plan of purchasing 50 million additional doses of a couple of potential Covid-19 vaccine. The break-up will be 40 million doses from Novovax and ten million jointly from Pfizer and BioNTech. Earlier, Australia and agreed to purchase vaccines From AstraZeneca and CSL Limited, provided their trials are successful.