In a bid to boost the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic, India has cleared two more vaccines and one anti-viral drug. While Corbevax and Covovax are the vaccines, Molnupiravir is the anti-viral drug cleared by India.

Corbevax and Covovax, and anti-viral drug Molnupiravir can be used only in emergency.

According to Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya, Corbevax, made by the Hyderabad-based firm Biological-E, is India's first homegrown "RBD protein sub-unit vaccine". It is made by the Hyderabad-based firm Biological-E. "It's a hat-trick! It's now third vaccine developed in India," twitted Mr Mandaviya.

The other two vaccines developed in India are Serum Institute of India's Covishield and Bharat Biotech's Covaxin.

The nanoparticle vaccine, Covovax, will be manufactured by the Pune-based Serum Institute of India (SII).
The anti-viral drug Molnupiravir will be manufactured in India by 13 companies for restricted use under emergency situation to treat adult patients with COVID-19 and who have high risk of progression of the disease.

With the latest approvals, the number of Covid vaccines which have received emergency use authorisation in India has increased to eight. They are Serum Institute's Covishield, Bharat Biotech's Covaxin, Zydus Cadila's ZyCoV-D, Russia's Sputnik V, the US-made Moderna and Johnson & Johnson, Corbevax and Covovax.