Guwahati News Desk: The global healthcare major Johnson & Johnson on Monday announced that it remains committed to bringing its single-dose COVID-19 vaccine to India and looks forward to the ongoing discussions with the Indian government.
The company stated, “We look forward to ongoing discussions with the Government of India and will continue to explore how to accelerate availability of the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine in India.”
The statement comes after the company withdrew its application to conduct bridging clinical studies of its vaccine in India, after the government waived the requirement of such trials for foreign-approved vaccines.
The healthcare company informed through an emailed statement which says, “Since the Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) recently directed that there is no longer a requirement to conduct bridging clinical studies of COVID-19 vaccines in India, Johnson & Johnson withdrew its application to conduct these studies.”
According to the latest recommendations of the Subject Expert Committee (SEC) meeting to examine COVID-19 related proposals under the accelerated approval process, Johnson & Johnson had informed that it was withdrawing its proposal.
Meanwhile, according to the Union Health Ministry data updated on Monday, India registered 40,134 fresh COVID-19 infections, pushing its virus tally to 3,16,95,958, while the number of active cases registered an increase for the sixth consecutive day. Also, the death toll from the pandemic has climbed to 4,24,773 with 422 daily fatalities.
Photo | Reuters