To overcome the acute shortage of vaccines following a big surge in number of corona virus cases the Centre on Tuesday (April 13) decided to import different foreign brands of vaccine.
Sputnik-V, Pfizer, Moderna and, Johnson and Johnson vaccines would soon be available in India.
Earlier, on April 11, the task force of experts constituted by the health ministry had given green signal to Russia’s Sputnik-V for emergency usage in India.
The government would work on logistic of storage and transportation with Dr Reddy’s, a pharmaceutical firm.
The government’s decision came following complaint from different states that they are unable to vaccinate the people because of shortage of vaccines. India has largely been relying on Bharat Biotech’s Covaxin and Serum Institute’s Covishield. India has been exporting vaccine to different countries.
Now that the foreign brand vaccines will be available in next few days it is hoped that the country would overcome the crisis. Johnson and Johnson produces a single-dose vaccine. On the other hand, the problem with Pfizer is that of storage, and that too in the excessive heat conditions of India.
On February 19, Pfizer and BioNTech announced the submission of new data to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) demonstrating the stability of their COVID-19 vaccine when stored at -25°C to -15°C (-13°F to 5°F), temperatures more commonly found in pharmaceutical freezers and refrigerators.
The Union government has always been denying the report of shortage of vaccine in the country. But the latest decision vindicates the complaints of the states.
