INDIAN health minister on Saturday (7) said that the country has approved Johnson & Johnson's single-dose Covid-19 vaccine for emergency use. This is the fifth vaccine approved in the country.
Mansukh Mandaviya said that this will further boost the country's collective fight against the deadly disease.
"India expands its vaccine basket! Johnson and Johnson's single-dose Covid-19 vaccine is given approval for emergency use in India. Now India has five EUA vaccines. This will further boost our nation's collective fight against #Covid-19," Mandaviya tweeted.
Indian health authorities have so far approved the use of vaccines developed by AstraZeneca, Bharat Biotech, Russia's Gamaleya Institute, and Moderna.
The pharmaceutical giant had applied for emergency use approval of its vaccine, the company had said on Friday (6). The shot will be brought to India through a supply agreement with homegrown vaccine maker Biological E Ltd, the company had said.
Earlier, India had announced that Covid-19 vaccines which were approved for restricted use by regulators in the US, UK, Europe, and Japan, or which were on the WHO's emergency use listing, would not have to conduct bridging clinical trials in India.
“The US-based pharmaceutical company had applied for Emergency Use Authorisation for its jab on Friday and was granted the approval the same day by the Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI),” a senior official told PTI.
India on Saturday reported 38,628 new coronavirus cases, taking the infection tally to 31,895,385, while the death toll climbed to 427,371 with 617 fresh fatalities, according to the health ministry.
India has reported an average of 30,000 to 40,000 new coronavirus cases every day since July, and the federal government has warned that although cases have dipped from a high of 400,000 daily at the peak of the deadly second wave, the danger has not abated yet.
Viram Jasani 
