Fast tracking of foreign vaccines: Too little, too late?
Ankit Kumar
Falling short with the desi Covid jabs, the government has decided to fast track the approval for vaccines, already cleared by the drug regulators of the United States, United Kingdom, European Union, Japan and the World Health Organization (WHO), under emergency use authorisation (EUA) provisions. However, with rising global demands, disruptions in the supply chain of critical components and backlog of unfulfilled contract obligations with other countries, the wait for these foreign vaccines could stretch longer. The modern messenger RNA (mRNA) based Covid vaccines by pharma giant Pfizer and biotech firm Moderna has turned out to be extremely effective against the raging pandemic in some countries like the US, Israel and UK. But India's already delayed response in regulatory clearance and government-sponsored acquisitions of these mRNA vaccines could mean months of extended wait in Indian markets.