When India's regulator announced the vaccine's approval on Jan. 3, it said it was aimed at offering more options, in addition to the AstraZeneca formula, given that a more infectious COVID strain had been discovered in the UK.
The shipments consist of two formulas: One developed by Oxford University and the pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca, and another vaccine developed by an Indian company called Bharat Biotech — billed as India's first "indigenous" vaccine.
Dheeraj Dhawan/Hindustan Times via Getty Images hide caption toggle caption Dheeraj Dhawan/Hindustan Times via Getty Images A box for COVID-19 vaccine storage, at Aishbagh on Tuesday, in Lucknow, India.
In the case of the Bharat Biotech vaccine, "the approval process in India was a secret," Thakur says.
