![\"\"](\"http:\/\/stateofthenation.co\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/1000x-1.jpg\")
A vaccine delivery testing process in Delhi, India, on Jan. 2. Photographer: T. Narayan\/Bloomberg<\/p><\/div><\/p>\n
By Chris Kay and Ragini Saxena
\nBLOOMBERG<\/p>\n
India has followed the U.K. and granted emergency approval for the coronavirus vaccine developed by\u00a0AstraZeneca Plc<\/a>\u00a0and the\u00a0University of Oxford<\/a>, the first step in its plan to inoculate citizens in the country that\u2019s home to the world\u2019s second-largest Covid-19 outbreak.<\/p>\n Information and Broadcasting Minister Prakash Javdekar said the AstraZeneca shot being produced locally by the\u00a0Serum Institute of India Ltd.<\/a>\u00a0— the world\u2019s largest vaccine maker by volume — was approved Friday.<\/p>\n \u201cIndia is possibly the only country where four vaccine candidates are ready.\u201d Javdekar said at the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party\u2019s briefing on Saturday in New Delhi. \u201cYesterday one vaccine has been approved for emergency use, Serum\u2019s Covishield.\u201d<\/p>\n The Drugs Controller General of India has yet to formally announce the approval. Serum has an agreement with AstraZeneca to roll out at least one billion doses and has already made millions of shots. The move came just days after the U.K. regulator gave clearance to the vaccine, which is to roll out to Britain\u2019s most vulnerable groups from Monday.<\/p>\n