The Government of India on Tuesday has introduced ‘Moderna’as the fourth vaccine in the fight against the contagious Covid-19 infection. Thisapproval for Moderna also hints at another vaccine Pfizer to enter the Indianmarket anytime soon.
Covid Task Force Chief and member of NITI Aayog, VK Paul,convened a press conference on Tuesday and said, “new drug permission has beengranted to Moderna, the first internationally developed Covid vaccine.”
Moderna’s Covid-19 vaccine mRNA- 1273 has been developed by the US-based pharmaceutical company in collaboration with the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) and the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) in the US, where it is sold under the brand name 'Spikevax'.
As per the reports of WHO, the Moderna vaccine is effective in fighting the Covid-19 as it has shown 94.1 percent of efficacy within 14 days of the first dose. Furthermore, WHO asserts that mRNA-1273 also protect against the two latest variants including B.1.1.7 and 501Y.V2
Despite the approval, the Moderna vaccine against deadlyinfection has been granted restricted emergency use authorization. Moderna willalso be administered in two doses.
Earlier, the Drugs Controller General of India (DGCI) hasapproved AstraZeneca's Covishield, Bharat Biotech's Covaxin, and Sputnik Vdeveloped by Russia's Gamaleya Institute and now US manufacturing giant Modernais added to the list.
While making the announcement regarding the opening of the Indian market for Moderna and mentioning that Covaxin, Covishield, SputnikV andModerna will now be available in the fight against Covid, Paul said "Indiawill soon close the deal on Pfizer as well".
Mumbai-based pharmaceutical company Cipla Ltd on Tuesdayreceived approval from the DCGI to import the Covid-19 vaccine developed byModerna Inc for restricted emergency use.
Cipla had filed an application with the DCGI on Monday toimport the vaccine.
The entry of the Moderna vaccine is a significant move amidIndia's accelerated vaccination drive to inoculate as many people as soon aspossible. The new drug would undoubtedly help better the supply constraints,besides allaying the fears of a possible third wave of the pandemic.
Earlier in the day, Johnson and Johnson had said that itis in talks with the Indian government to explore ways to speed up the deliveryof its single-shot Covid-19 vaccine in the country.
So far, India has administered more than 31.90 crore(32,90,29,510) vaccine doses, including 52,76,457 doses in the last 24 hours.