India authorised the emergency use of Moderna's COVID-19 vaccine on Tuesday as it seeks to ramp up inoculations in the wake of a record-breaking surge in infections and deaths.
The vast nation of 1.3 billion people was hit by a massive spike in coronavirus cases in April and May that pushed the healthcare system to breaking point.
Moderna's shot is the fourth to be approved by New Delhi after Oxford-AstraZeneca's Covishield and Covaxin—which was developed by Indian firm Bharat Biotech—and Russia's Sputnik V.
"I am pleased to inform that an application received from Moderna through an Indian partner of theirs, Cipla, has been granted EUA (Emergency Use Authorisation)," Vinod K. Paul, a member of government advisory body NITI Aayog, said at a health ministry briefing.
Paul added that the approval—the first for an mRNA vaccine in India—would pave the way for other foreign-made shots to be imported into the country, with efforts to get Pfizer and Johnson & Johnson doses ongoing.
Modern's chief executive Stephane Bancel said the authorisation would mark an "important step forward in the global fight against the pandemic".
"We are committed to making our COVID-19 vaccine available around the world," he added in a statement by the Cambridge, Massachusetts-based company.