Follow us 
South African regulator approves Serum Institute's Covishield days before receiving vaccine
Battling the second wave of Covid-19, South Africa is expected to receive a million doses of Covishield by the end of January and another 5 lakh in February of this year.
File photo of SII's coronavirus vaccine 'Covishield' (Photo Credits: PTI)
South Africa has granted approval to Pune-based SII to supply doses of its coronavirus vaccine 'Covishield' to the country. The decision was announced by South Africa's Health Minister Zweli Mkhize on Saturday.
The South African Health Products Regulatory Authority (SAHPRA) has granted approval to the Serum Institute of India to supply Covishield, Minister Mkhize said. He went on to add, "We will, in the next coming days, engage with the public in order to give an update on the progress of the first batch of the vaccines that we committed would be received in the first quarter."
Battling the second wave of Covid-19, South Africa is expected to receive a million doses of Covishield by the end of January and another 5 lakh in February of this year. The country which is also staring at a new mutant variant of the coronavirus has decided to vaccinate healthcare workers in the first stage.
"At this stage, we would like to assure South Africans that all is on track. We are working closely with all relevant stakeholders to ensure a smooth implementation of the vaccine roll-out programme," news agency PTI quoted South Africa's Health Minister Zweli Mkhize as saying.
The world's largest drug manufacturer, Pune-based SII is producing Covishield developed jointly by the University of Oxford and AstraZeneca. Earlier this month, the Government of India approved the commercial supply of coronavirus vaccines. Brazil and Morocco have already received doses of Covid-19 vaccines supplied by India.
Source - India Today
