Sources say that India’s drug regulator on Friday approved a coronavirus vaccine developed by AstraZeneca and Oxford University for emergency use. The approval paves the way for its rollout in the world’s second worst affected country after the United States.

While India wants to start administering the shots soon, Britain and Argentina have already authorised the vaccine for urgent public use.
India is also considering emergency-use authorisation applications for vaccines made by Pfizer Inc with Germany’s BioNTech, and by the country’s Bharat Biotech.

India has reported the second highest number (more than 10 lakh) of coronavirus cases after the US though the rate of infection has come down significantly from a mid-September peak.