Coronavirus Vaccine Update: Three pharmaceutical majors – Pfizer, Serum Institute of India and Bharat Biotech – that sought for the emergency use authorisation of their coronavirus vaccines in India are likely to be reviewed by an expert panel tomorrow (December 9), sources said on Tuesday. The development comes just a day after the Hyderabad-based firm Bharat Biotech joined the bandwagon for approval of its indigenously-made vaccine candidate Covaxin.

Officials who spoke to news agency PTI said that the expert panel of the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO) will share its observations with the Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) and an emergency use approval of the respective drugs will be granted only if there is sufficient evidence regarding its safety and effectiveness.

DCGI has already started processing the applications. Final approval will be done only after completion of all the trials and after the analysis of full data, the report added. 

Notably, the US-based Pfizer Inc was the first to seek emergency use of the COVID-19 vaccine in India on December 4 sought approval for its vaccine from the central drug regulator. The firm, which is developing the drug with BioNtech, has already secured such clearance in the UK and Bahrain.

Soon after, the Pune-based Serum Institute of India sought the nod for the Oxford COVID-19 vaccine, Covishield, on December 6, while Bharat Biotech became the third such pharma last evening.

At an all-party meeting on December 4, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had expressed hope that the COVID-19 vaccine may be ready in the upcoming weeks.