First Batch of Moderna's Covid Vaccines to Reach India in a Few Days: Govt Sources

The Centre expects Moderna’s Covid-19 vaccine to reach India in the next couple of days.

The vaccines are a part of the Covid-19 Vaccine Global Access or COVAX initiative by the World Health Organisation (WHO), and have been donated to India.

Government sources told CNN-News18 that the “Government of India is hopeful that the first batch of the Moderna vaccines will reach the nation in the next couple of days”.

The number of doses in the batch are not known yet.

The vaccine doses will be imported by Indian drug manufacturer Cipla, and will be under the central government’s purview. The Centre plans to provide the Moderna doses directly to states.

The drug regulatory body had granted emergency use approval to the US-based pharma company Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine on June 29, making it the fourth vaccine to be approved in India.

Cipla has been given permission to import Moderna’s Covid-19 vaccine. However, at this stage ​the regulatory approval is for importation of vaccines that are donated to India.

The Moderna vaccine has been shown to have an efficacy of 94.1% in protecting against the Covid-19 infection.

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