Why Covidshield suits India

Serum Institute of India has already produced around 50 million dosages of the Oxford-AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine 'Covishield' and plans to scale it up to 100 million by March next year even as it awaits approval for emergency use authorisation, a top company official said on Monday.

The company, which has launched the country's first indigenously developed pneumococcal vaccine PNEUMOSIL- for children, said the scaling up of the COVID-19 vaccine would also depend on the overall demand from the government.

In order to introduce an urgently needed vaccine against COVID-19 in India, Serum Institute of India (SII), the world's largest vaccine manufacturer, has entered into a collaboration with the University of Oxford and AstraZeneca to manufacture Covishield. Why it can be a perfect fit for India? Here's an explainer.