Discussions still going on over indemnity to Moderna, says report

Even as the US giant drug maker Moderna's COVID-19 messenger RNA (mRNA) vaccine is expected to reach India this week, discussions are still going on over indemnity waiver, informed sources.

Earlier on June 29, Indian drug regulators granted permission to Cipla to import donated doses of Moderna from the US. These doses will be given to the central government and will be available in selected hospitals of the country, where vaccines can be stored easily.

Moderna's ready-to-use injectible COVID-19 vaccine is authorised pursuant to a registration certificate and permission to import the vaccine for restricted use in an emergency situation in India, to be administered to adults aged 18 years and older.

Moderna has also received emergency (or other conditional, interim or provisional) authorisation for use of its COVID-19 vaccine from health agencies in more than 50 countries and an Emergency Use Listing (EUL) from the World Health Organization (WHO).

According to WHO, the Moderna vaccine has shown to have an efficacy of approximately 94.1 per cent in protecting against COVID-19, starting 14 days after the first dose.

Dr VK Paul, NITI Aayog member health and Chair of the National Expert Group on Vaccine Administration (NEGVAC) for COVID-19, said that the Moderna vaccine will be administered in two doses.

"New drug permission has been granted to Moderna, the first internationally developed vaccine. This new drug permission is for restricted use. There are four vaccines now Covaxin, Covishield, SputnikV and Moderna. We will soon close the deal on Pfizer as well," Dr Paul said.

"These four vaccines (Covaxin, Covishield, SputnikV and Moderna) are safe for lactating mothers. The vaccine has no association with infertility," he added.