Pune: The happy moment of the New Year came to Serum Institute on Sunday after India's drug regulator cleared its COVISHIELD vaccine for emergency approval in the country.

All the risks taken by Serum Institute have finally paid off, tweeted Adar Poonawalla, the Chief Executive of the Pune-based vaccine manufacturer. In his tweet he wrote, "Happy new year, everyone! All the risks

@SerumInstIndia took with stockpiling the vaccine, have finally paid off. COVISHIELD, India's first COVID-19 vaccine is approved, safe, effective and ready to roll-out in the coming weeks."

He also thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan and others. "Thank you Hon. Sri @narendramodi Ji, Hon. Sri @drharshvardhan Ji, @MoHFW_INDIA @ICMRDELHI @DBTIndia #DCGI_India @UniofOxford @AstraZeneca @gavi @GaviSeth @gatesfoundation and @BillGatesfor your support," his another tweets read.

The CEO of the Serum Institute had earlier said the "majority of the first 50 million doses will go to India". Serum Institute of India made a stock of about 40-50 million doses of the vaccine, The largest vaccine maker of the globe, by the volume it produces, has also set an aim of manufacturing around 300 million doses of the vaccine by July this year.