Pfizer in final stages of getting approval for COVID-19 vaccine in India: CEO

New Delhi: US pharma major Pfizer is in the final stages to get approval for the COVID-19 vaccine in India. "I hope very soon we will finalize an agreement with the government," Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla said, news agency ANI quoted.

The development comes amid reports that the Indian government is in talks with the US pharma major to find a middle-ground for supplying vaccines in India. "Any final decision on vaccine imports has to be compatible with Indian laws and the government was hopeful that these vaccines would be available in the country before the end of this year,"  government advisor Vinod Kumar Paul was quoted as saying by CNBC TV-18.

The indemnity debate

It may be noted that India is close to granting indemnity to foreign COVID-19 vaccine manufacturers such as Moderna and Pfizer. According to a report in the Times of India, indemnity will be granted to foreign vaccine manufacturers. "If one company gets it, then all of them get it," a report quoted a source as saying.

In April, India invited Moderna, Johnson and Johnson and Pfizer to supply their vaccines in the Indian market in the middle of the second wave of COVID-19. India has, however, not signed any deal with the pharma giant as the latter has reportedly not supplied vaccines in any country without signing an indemnity for adverse effects of their vaccines on the population.

There are speculations that the Pfizer vaccine could be available in India by August. The company has, however, issued no official statement on the same. The government has already accepted one of the conditions of the company to do away with trials on the local population. According to reports, the first recipients of Pfizer shots will be monitored before a mass roll-out across the population.