New Delhi, August 19: Covishield, the vaccine candidate of Oxford-Astrazeneca being produced by Pune-based Serum Institute of India, is expected to be the country's shot at finding immune against the novel coronavirus. The vaccine, according to officials, could be released as early as the end of December this year. India's COVID-19 Recoveries Cross 2 Million Mark, With Highest Single Day Jump of 60,091 Patients Who Recovered From Coronavirus in Past 24 Hours.

While other candidates, including Bharat Biotech's Covaxin are only in the testing phase, the early leads taken by Oxford-Astrazeneca is expected to allow the Serum Institute to emerge as the first manufacturer of the vaccine against COVID-19 in India.

The Indian health authorities granted approval to the Serum Institute for conducting phase 2 and 3 of the human trials. Around 1,600 volunteers are selected for the second phase of trials, that are set to begin in the next couple of days.

"If the vaccine gets the nod, and given that it is being produced in India, it makes sense to use it," a top source was quoted as saying in a TOI report that claimed that the Oxford vaccine could be released in India by the end of 2020.

The phase 3 trials are also expected to be conducted simultaneously, and begin in the next one week. While experts claim that the third round of trials require at least six to eight months, the process will be expedited in view of the raging pandemic.

On August 11, Russia became the first country in the world to release a vaccine that has been developed by the Moscow-based Gamelia Institute and the Russian Defence Ministry. The vaccine, however, has raised doubts as datal related to the pre-clinical and human trials was not released.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Aug 19, 2020 02:14 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).