Oxford-AstraZeneca Covid-19 Vaccine Approved For Use In UK, Likely To Get Indian Drug Regulator's Nod Soon

In a positive development, the Oxford-AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine candidate has been approved for emergency use in the United Kingdom.

The approval, by the UK's medicines regulator, means the vaccine is both safe and effective, reports BBC.

The UK has ordered 100 million doses of the vaccine, of which 4m are expected to be available within the next few days.

The Oxford vaccine was tested on the first volunteer in April, and has since been through large-scale clinical trials involving thousands of people.

It is the second Covid-19 vaccine that has received approval from the UK drug regulator. Earlier this month, Pfizer-BioNTech's Covid-19 vaccine candidate has been granted regulatory approval for emergency use in UK.

It should be noted that the Serum Institute of India (SII), the world's largest vaccine maker by volume, has partnered with AstraZeneca for the manufacturing of Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine.

SII's Covid-19 vaccine candidate, called Covishield, is undergoing the phase-3 trials in India. The company had earlier this month applied for emergency use authorisation from India's drug regulator, which is expected to be granted in the next few days.