Vaccine will be available only after trials are successful: Serum Institute

Refutes media claims on vaccine to be available in 73 days

Amidst reports claiming Serum Institute of India would be ready with Covishield vaccine in 73 days, the Pune-based company on Sunday clarified that these claims were misleading.

“The government has granted us permission to only manufacture the vaccine and stockpile it for future use,” Serum Institute said on Sunday. The drugmaker said the vaccine would be commercialised once the trials are proven successful and all the requisite regulatory approvals are in place. It said the claims surrounding Covishield's availability in the media were “conjectural”.

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Covishield is the vaccine candidate from Oxford-AstraZeneca that is under development. Serum Institute began phase-II trials in India last week.

The phase-III trials for the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine are underway. “Only once the vaccine is proven immunogenic and efficacious, we will confirm its availability, officially,” the firm said. Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan had said on Saturday that “one of India’s Covid-19 vaccine candidates is in the third phase of clinical trials” and that a vaccine will be developed “by the end of this year”.

According to experts, phase-III trials typically take 3-6 months, even if they are expedited.