Pfizer vaccine in final stages of getting approval in India, says CEO

Hope very soon we will finalise an agreement with the govt, says CEO Albert Bourla

In what may come as a boost to the inoculation drive in India, Pfizer's coronavirus vaccine is said to be in the final stages of getting approval in the country. The pharma giant expects to finalise an agreement with the Indian government soon.

"Pfizer now in final stages to get approval for coronavirus vaccine in India. I hope very soon we will finalise an agreement with the govt," its chief executive officer Albert Bourla said.

Pfizer, which developed the vaccine in partnership with the German firm BioNtech, employed the revolutionary messenger-RNA (mRNA) technology for the shot and it has a very high efficacy of over 90 per cent in preventing the infection.

The Indian government is engaged with Pfizer for quite sometime now to bring the shot to the country, but both parties are reportedly stuck on the issue of granting indmenity to the firm.

The Pfizer-BioNTech shot has been approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and other western regulators for emergency use. The vaccine is also authorised for use in teens in the US.

India currently uses three vaccines including the home-made Covaxin developed by Bharat Biotech, AstraZeneca shot, produced locally by the Serum Institute of India (SII) and Russia's Sputnik.

The country had administered record 8 million vaccine doses yesterday as the new guidelines on procurement took effect. Under the new policy, the Government of India procures almost 75 per cent of the vaccines from manufacturers and provide it free to the states