Nepal approves emergency use of SII's Covishield

Pic Courtesy: IANS

Kathmandu: Nepal Government on Friday (January 15) approved the emergency use of 'Covishield' vaccine, which is being manufactured by the Serum Institute of India (SII).The decision for the usage of the vaccine was taken by the Department of Drug Administration (DDA).

"It is to notify to all concerned that the conditional permission has been granted for emergency use authorisation of Covishield vaccine against COVID-19 in Nepal as per the departmental decision dated 15th Jan 2021," the DDA said in a notice.The body had called for vaccine manufacturers to register their products for usage in Nepal on Wednesday, reported The Himalayan Times.

Covishield has been developed by AstraZeneca and Oxford University and will be manufactured by SII. On Thursday, Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) spokesperson Anurag Srivastava recalled Prime Minister Narendra Modi`s statement that India's vaccine production and delivery capacity would be used for the benefit of all humanity in fighting this crisis.However, he said that it is 'too early to give a specific response' on the Covid-19 vaccine supplies to other countries.India had earlier given emergency use authorisation to two COVID-19 vaccines Covishield and Covaxin, developed by Bharat Biotech in the country.