Regulatory clearance for AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine

India awaiting regulatory clearance by Sri Lanka to send a dispatch of vaccines as donation

• NMRA was planning to endorse regulatory clearance for three other vaccines next week

By Kelum Bandara

The National Medicines Regulatory Authority (NMRA) granted yesterday regulatory clearance for the emergency use of Oxford/AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine, and three more such vaccines – Pfizer of the United States, Sputnik V of Russia and Sinopharm of China – were under consideration for authorisation next week, a Minister said .  

Oxford/AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine has been developed by Oxford University and AstraZeneca which is a British-Swedish multinational pharmaceutical and bio-pharmaceutical company. The Serum Institute of India is the largest manufacturer of this vaccine.   
 India was awaiting regulatory clearance by Sri Lanka to send a dispatch of vaccines as a donation upon request by President Gotabaya Rajapaksa. India has already started the dispatch of consignments of vaccines to countries in the neighbourhood such as Bangladesh and Nepal.   

State Minister of Production, Supply and Regulation of Pharmaceuticals Dr. Channa Jayasumana told Daily Mirror the NMRA was planning to endorse regulatory clearance for three other vaccines next week, enabling the authorities concerned to take initiatives in view of mass inoculation.  

Earlier, Sri Lankan ambassador in China Dr. Palitha Kohona said China also offered a dispatch of Covid-19 vaccines once preliminary requirements were fulfilled by Sri Lanka. China has developed two main vaccines - Sinopharm and Sinovac.    According to Xinhua news agency, Chinese pharmaceutical company Sinovac Biotech Ltd.  is ramping up the production of CoronaVac, an inactivated COVID-19 vaccine, to ensure global supply.