New Delhi, December 3: Dr Randeep Guleria, Director at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), on Thursday said he is hopeful that the Indian government will soon issue emergency use authorisation to vaccines against coronavirus (COVID-19). Speaking to news agency ANI, Dr Randeep Guleria also stressed that COVID-19 vaccines, undergoing trials in India, are safe and sufficient data is available to back it. What is Emergency Use Authorisation Which Moderna, Pfizer Are Seeking For Their COVID-19 Vaccines?

"In India, we now have vaccines which are in their final trial stage.  I am hopeful that by the end of this month or early next month we should get emergency use authorisation from Indian regulatory authorities to start giving the vaccine to public," Dr Guleria said. Recently, a volunteer from Chennai alleged that he had developed neurological complications after being administered a test dose of Covidshield vaccine. COVID-19 Vaccine Covishield Safe, Incident With Chennai Volunteer Not Related to Trials, Says Serum Institute of India.

Covishield, developed by Oxford University and AstraZeneca, will be manufactured and produced in India by Serum Institute of India (SII). "There is good data available that the vaccines are very safe. Safety and efficacy of vaccine not compromised at all. 70,000-80,000 volunteers given the vaccine, no significant serious adverse effects seen. Data shows that in the short term vaccine is safe," the AIIMS Director asserted.

The SII also said the incident related to the volunteer in Chennai was "no way induced" by the vaccine. Asserting that COVID-19 vaccine Covishield is safe, the SII on Monday said it sent a legal notice to the volunteer "to safeguard the reputation of the company". The company had countered the allegation with a demand of Rs 100 crore as damages to its reputation.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Dec 03, 2020 01:57 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).