Serum Institute of India applies for full approval of Covishield vaccine

The ongoing vaccination campaign in the country has so far been dominated by Covishield and Bharat Biotech's Covaxin. Adar Poonawala, CEO of the Serum Institute, said on Friday that the Serum Institute of India had applied to the country's drug regulator and the health ministry for full approval for their covishield vaccine. 

The Serum Institute is developing AstraZeneca's corona vaccine called Covishield. The Serum Institute has so far supplied more than 1.25 billion doses of vaccine in the country. CEO Adar Poonawala tweeted, "Supplies of the COVISHIELD vaccine in India, have exceeded 1.25 billion doses. The government of India now has enough data for full market authorisation, and therefore Serum InstIndia has applied to the @CDSCO_INDIA_INF (DCGI) and @MoHFW_INDIA for this permission."

The Serum Institute is the largest vaccine manufacturer in the world. Emergency use of the Covidshield vaccine was approved in India earlier this year. The Serum Institute has been steadily increasing the monthly capacity of AstraZeneca shots, Poonawala had said in October.

Supplies of the COVISHIELD vaccine in India, have exceeded 1.25 billion doses. The government of India now has enough data for full market authorisation, and therefore @SerumInstIndia has applied to the @CDSCO_INDIA_INF (DCGI) and @MoHFW_INDIA for this permission.

— Adar Poonawalla (@adarpoonawalla) December 31, 2021