More than 50 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine have
already been stockpiled by its local manufacturer, the Serum Institute of India
(SII).
Two sources with knowledge of the matter told Reuters news
agency the vaccine was close to being approved.
One of the sources said the shots could start to be
transported from cold storage to Indian states as early as Saturday.
The SII said in an email it would “wait for the final
approval to come” before commenting.
A source from the capital New Delhi, said the vaccine would
be “very welcome news for several reasons”.
“Its news that is eagerly awaited not least because India is
the second worst-affected country in the world [in terms of reported cases],”
she said.
India has reported more than 10 million cases.
India is also considering emergency-use authorisation
applications for vaccines made by Pfizer Inc with Germany’s BioNTech, and by
India’s Bharat Biotech.
“Both AstraZeneca and Bharat Biotech will get approval
today,” one of the sources told Reuters earlier on Friday.
“All preparations are on with today’s date in mind.”
On Wednesday, the Indian government said Pfizer had sought
more time to present data for emergency authorisation of a vaccine it has
developed with Germany’s BioNTech.
Indian health authorities expect to start a vaccination
drive for some 300 million people early next month.