India Approves Two COVID-19 Vaccines: Oxford-Serum Institute's Covishield & Bharat Biotech's Covaxin Receives Emergency Approval From DCGI

Two vaccines for coronavirus, Oxford Institute's Covishield & Bharat Biotech's Covaxin, received emergency approval from the country's drug regulator on January 3. Oxford Institute's Covishield is being developed by the Pune-based Serum Institute. The approval from the Drug Controller comes days after a government-appointed experts' panel gave clearance to the vaccines. Both vaccines have to be administered in two doses and stored at temperatures between 2 and 8 degrees Celsius. The government will give priority to 1 crore healthcare workers & 2 crore frontline workers when the vaccinations begin, Union Health Minister Dr Harshvardhan said as a countrywide dry run for the vaccination process was conducted on January 2. Hailing the scientific community and frontline Corona warriors, Prime Minister Narendra Modi also tweeted. Flagging concerns over Bharat Biotech's Covaxin, senior Congress leader Shashi Tharoor tweeted.