Pfizer’s vaccine, being rolled out in UK, won’t be available in India as no follow up after govt talked to it

The COVID-19 vaccine developed by American pharma giant Pfizer, which was today cleared by the United Kingdom and will be rolled out to the public early next week, is unlikely to be available in India any time soon, NDTV has reported.

For a vaccine to be allowed in India it must clear clinical trials here, and neither Pfizer nor its partner companies had reportedly asked to hold such trials. This means that even if Pfizer partners with an Indian company now it will take some time for the vaccine to be available in the country.

The government did hold talks with Pfizer in August but there has been no development since then, sources told NDTV. They said the focus in India remains on five other candidates, including one developed by AstraZeneca and Oxford University and produced by the Pune-based Serum Institute.

The Pfizer vaccine, which has been cleared by the UK, reported an efficacy rate of over 90 per cent. Another global vaccine candidate - developed by Moderna Inc., which has also not sought permission to hold clinical trials in India – has reported an efficacy rate of 94.1 per cent.

In India, the second worst-hit country in the world by COVID-19, 95 lakh cases have been reported so far, of which around 4.28 lakh are active cases and over 1.38 lakh are deaths linked to the virus.