Supply order for Covishield vaccine was placed after drug regulator approved it: Govt

For the procurement of COVID-19 vaccines, a supply order dated January 11 was placed with the Serum Institute of India after Covishield was approved for restricted use in emergency situation by India’s drug regulator, the Rajya Sabha was informed on Tuesday.
Union Minister of State for Health Ashwini Choubey was responding to a question on whether the government has finalised a pricing and supply agreement with the Serum Institute of India for COVID-19 vaccines.

Covishield is being manufactured by the Pune-based firm with technology transfer from AstraZeneca/Oxford University.

On whether it is a fact that multiple doses of the vaccine produced for India could not be rolled out despite approval due to the lack of a formal agreement for supply, Choubey, in a written reply, said, ” No. As per protocol, the supply order for COVID-19 vaccines, specifying the number of vaccine doses, was placed with the manufacturer and vaccines were delivered within three days to the states and UTs and other consignee points.