New Delhi:
The Drug Controller General of India has granted regulatory approval to Zydus Cadilla’s vaccine, ZyCoV-D. The world’s first and India’s indigenously developed DNA-based vaccine for COVID-19 will be administered to children and adults above the age of 12, the Department of Biotechnology said in a statement. The three-dose vaccine works against newer virus strains, including the highly infectious Delta Variant of the novel coronavirus which led to India’s second wave of the disease.
ZyCoV-D will be administered first on day zero, day 28th and then on the 56th day, as per the guidelines issued by the vaccine makers. The 3-dose vaccine produces the spike protein of the SARS-CoV2 virus and elicits an immune response, which plays a pivotal role in protection from disease as well as virus clearance.
Zydus Cadila said the vaccine is delivered via a “painless” intradermal applicator and added that it plans to seek approval for a two-dose regimen of the vaccine. The vaccine has been developed in partnership with the department under Mission COVID Suraksha.
Pankaj R Patel, chairman, Cadila healthcare, said that the vaccine showed 66 per cent efficacy against moderate Covid infections and 100 per cent against severe Covid, preventing serious disease and hospitalisation. The clinical trials were conducted on over 28,000 subjects, including kids, and were done when the Delta variant was prevalent across the country.
The details on the availability of the vaccine are yet to be announced. So far, only those who are 18 or above were eligible for vaccination against coronavirus.
India’s cumulative COVID-19 vaccination coverage surpassed 57.61 crore on Saturday, of which 36,36,043 vaccine doses were administered in the last 24 hours.
“With the administration of 36,36,043 COVID-19 vaccine doses in the last 24 hours, India’s COVID-19 vaccination coverage has surpassed the cumulative figure of 57.61 crore (57,61,17,350) as per provisional reports till 7 am today,” the Union Health Ministry informed in a press release.
]]>
, International, above,against,approved,children,coronavirus,first,gets,india’,vaccines,