SII's Adar Poonawalla Says Omicron-Specific Covid Vaccine For India In Six Months: Report

Poonawalla said that the vaccine is specifically for the BA5 sub-version of Omicron. For which the UK has approved an updated modern vaccine.

New Delhi: Serum Institute of India's (SII) Chief Executive Officer Adar Poonawalla on Monday said in his interview with NDTV that a special vaccine is being prepared in India for the Omicron variant, it is expected to arrive by the end of the year. "Think this vaccine is important as a booster. Trials of Novavax are in progress in Australia currently. By November-December should be in a position to approach the US drug regulator," Poonawalla told NDTV.

He said that the vaccine is specifically for the BA5 sub-version of Omicron. For which the UK has approved an updated modern vaccine. This vaccine is effective for the Omicron variant as well as the original form of the virus.

"Although the new variant may not cause a lot of hospitalisations, it is very serious if you get it. It is like a bad case of the flu. It is in my opinion important to get this vaccine as a booster whenever you get it," he said.

"Whether we have to do a separate trial in India is yet to be decided. Our team is talking with the government officials… and we hope to have a vaccine at the end of this year or the latest first quarter of next year," he said.

Earlier today, the UK became the first country to approve a Covid-19 vaccine that targets both the 2020 original strain and the Omicron variant of the novel coronavirus, the Medicine and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) said in a statement. Manufactured by the US firm Moderna, the bivalent vaccine targets the original coronavirus as well as the Omicron variant BA.1, which led to a spurt in cases in the UK last winter.