New Delhi: After US-based pharma company Pfizer Inc announced that its vaccine candidate is showing positive results, the Indian government has indicated that it is open to talks to make the vaccine available in the country. According to a report by India Today, the Union health ministry said during a briefing on Tuesday said that the country’s national expert group on vaccine administration is in talks with both domestic and foreign vaccine manufacturers - be it domestic or foreign. Reports also say that Pfizer is ready for talks with India.

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Recently Pfizer Inc and German biotech company BioNTech BNT162b2, announced that their mRNA-based vaccine has demonstrated evidence of efficacy against COVID-19 in participants. This came after the first interim efficacy analysis conducted on November 8, 2020, by an external, independent Data Monitoring Committee (DMC) from the Phase 3 clinical study.

"Vaccine candidate was found to be more than 90% effective in preventing COVID-19 in participants without evidence of prior SARS-CoV-2 infection in the first interim efficacy analysis," Pfizer said in a statement.

The US government has also said that if Pfizer is able to submit positive initial data from its vaccine trials, then it will start vaccination in America from December. Health Secretary Alex Azar said in a report by Reuters that after FDA authorization, the US will receive about 20 million doses of the Pfizer vaccine per month.

The report also said that Covid 19 vaccination will begin with the elderly in nursing homes and assisted living facilities, healthcare workers, and first responders. The goal is to complete these by end of January.