India expects to begin vaccinating people against Covid-19 in January, federal health officials told.
The officials – who requested anonymity – said a few vaccine candidates were likely to get emergency-use authorisation from the drug regulator in the next few weeks.
Two companies have already applied for consideration, and six more are in various stages of clinical trials.
The vaccination programme aims to reach 300 million people by early August.
The Covishield vaccine made by Serum Institute of India, which has partnered with British pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca; and covaxin, being developed by Bharat Biotech in collaboration with the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) have already applied for authorisation.
The officials also disputed media reports that India had pre-booked millions of doses from a number of vaccine makers around the world, saying they were already satisfied with the stocks in the country.
India has recorded nearly 10 million Covid-19 cases, and more than 144,000 deaths from the disease so far. The vaccination roll-out plans are being made even as the contagion shows marked signs of a slowdown.
