India Extends Shelf Life For AstraZeneca COVID-19 Jab To Nine Months: Reuters

India’s drug regulator has allowed AstraZeneca Plc’s AZN COVID-19 vaccine to be used for up to nine months from its manufacture date, versus the prescribed six months, according to a document reviewed by Reuters and a source.

• The approval is expected to minimize vaccine wastage and better plan the inoculation programs.
• Some Africa can use up more than a million doses of the branded Covishield vaccine by Serum Institute Of India by mid-next month if the shelf life is not extended.
• “You are permitted to apply the shelf-life of nine months to unlabeled vials available on hand,” India’s drug controller-general, V.G. Somani, wrote late last month in reply to a request from the Serum Institute Of India.
• AstraZeneca said that its shot could be stored, transported, and handled at normal refrigerated conditions for at least six months.
• The World Health Organization website also gives the shelf-life of Covishield and the South Korean-made AstraZeneca shot as six months.
• Each vial typically contains 5 milliliters of vaccine or ten doses.
• The source did not specify what kind of data was shared by the company.
• Somani, Serum Institute Of India, and AstraZeneca did not immediately respond.
• Price Action: AZN shares are down 1.34% at $50.13 in premarket trading on the last check Tuesday.