The promising COVID-19 vaccine was developed by the scientists of the Jenner Institute (Oxford University) and British-Swedish pharma firm, AstraZeneca has been given the license to mass-produce the potential vaccine. The UK drug giant has teamed up with Pune-based Serum Institute of India, which is the largest vaccine maker in the world by volume, to manufacturer 1 billion doses of the vaccine candidate developed by the University of Oxford.
Currently, AstraZeneca is already conducting Phase III trials of the potential vaccine (now known a Covishield) in Brazil, South Africa and the UK. After the promising results of Phase I/I trials of Covishield, Serum Institute of India is all set to begin Phase III (last stage) human trials in India in the month of August.