31 Dec 20 A vaccine against coronavirus can be approved in India soon, the country’s apex drug regulator hinted on Thursday and said the country will have a “happy new year with something in hand.” The assurance from the Drug Controller General of India (DCGI) comes ahead of a crucial meeting of the expert panel on emergency use vaccine authorization, which is set for Friday. “Probably we will have a happy New Year with something in hand. That is what I can hint at,” DCGI Dr VG Somani said. The drug regulator is currently analysing the data submitted by Serum Institute of India, which is manufacturing Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine and Bharat Biotech, which is making an indigenous vaccine in collaboration with ICMR. The expert panel will convene a meeting on January 1 on this.On Wednesday, the Subject Expert Committee (SEC) of the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO) had met to consider the Emergency Use Authorisation (EUA) request of Pfizer, Serum Institute of India and Bharat Biotech Private Limited
