Four more Covid-19 vaccines may come soon in India: Serum Institute

As the nationwide vaccination drive begins in India, the Serum Institute of India (SII), one of the world’s largest vaccine makers, stated that four more coronavirus vaccines may soon be used to vaccinate people in the country.

SII, which has prepared Covishield that is currently in use in India, said that the trials of four other vaccines are in full swing and are expected to wrap soon.

During a webinar, Suresh Jadhav, Executive Director of the Serum Institute, said that the company is working on a total of five vaccines against the virus, including Covishield.

Defending the rollout of the vaccine without publishing the results of the final trials, Jadhav said that this is not happening for the first time. He cited the example of an Ebola outbreak in Africa which was reportedly prevented after a Canadian pharmaceutical firm rolled out its vaccine even when the second trial was underway.

Meanwhile, according to the Union Ministry report, more than 2.24 lakh individuals have been vaccinated at the end of two days of India’s vaccination drive.

Out of the beneficiaries, only 447 adverse events cases have been reported, 3 of them required hospitalisation, with 2 being discharged already,