Serum Institute of India (SII) on Thursday said that it is
pausing India trials of potential COVID-19 vaccine AZD1222, being produced by Swedish-British
pharmaceutical firm, AstraZeneca. In a statement released by the institute,
they said that they are following the DGCA’s instructions.

This comes after AstraZenca announced the halting of the
trial of its COVID-19 vaccine candidate, after a UK volunteer developed ‘unexpected
illnesses’.

AstraZeneca is developing the vaccine in collaboration
with the University of Oxford.

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The Drug Controller General of India (DCGI) in August
granted permission to SII to conduct Phase-II and III human clinical trials of
AZD1222.

Yesterday, SII in a statement said that “We (Serum
Institute of India) were going by DCGI’s direction and were not instructed to
pause the trials. If DCGI has any safety concerns, we will adhere to their
instructions and abide by the standard protocols”.