People will have no option to select between Covishield and Covaxin

Jan. 12: The Drug Controller General of India (DCGI), the country’s national drug regulator, announced on January 3 that the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO) has approved the Covid-19 vaccines of both Serum Institute of India and Bharat Biotech for restricted use in the country. Oxford-AstraZeneca’s coronavirus vaccine Covishield, manufactured by Serum Institute of India and Bharat Biotech’s COVID vaccine Covaxin were approved for emergency use authorisation. The nationwide Covid-19 vaccination drive in India will begin from January 16.

Since then, many were wondering to choose between the two vaccines approved by the union government. However, Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan in a press conference on Tuesday clarified that people would not have the option of making a choice between the two available COVID-19 vaccines Covishield and Covaxin – when the rollout starts on 16 January.

The Union government, he said, had agreed to procure 110 lakh Covishield doses from the Serum Institute of India (SII) at ₹200/dose and 55 lakh doses of Covaxin from Bharat Biotech (BBIL), of which 38.5 lakh doses is priced at ₹295/dose. BBIL would provide 16.50 lakh doses of Covaxin free of cost to the Central government as a special gesture. Four other COVID-19 vaccines were under trial currently in the country and that it had so far received “54,72,000 doses of the vaccine to be distributed, while 100% doses to be received by 14th Jan in all States/UTs’’.

The roll-out of Covid-19 vaccines will provide priority to the healthcare workers and the frontline workers who are estimated to be around 3 crore, followed by those above 50 years of age and the under-50 population groups with co-morbidities numbering around 27 crore. Member (Health) Niti Aayog Dr. V.K. Paul said the two vaccines available in India were safe and that there should not be any doubt about this.