Vaccine for 12-18 Age Group may be Introduced on Gandhi Jayanti Day
NEW DELHI, Sept 30: The first vaccine for the children in the age group of 12 to 18 years is ready for introduction in India. The government is learnt to be aiming to introduce the three-dose needle-free ZyCoV-D vaccine, manufactured by the Ahmedabad-based Zydus Cadila on October 2, the Gandhi Jayanti Day.
Union health secretary Rajesh Bhushan on Thursday announced that the much-awaited Zydus Cadila’s Covid-19 vaccine would be introduced in the national vaccination programme “very shortly.”
The ZyCoV-D is the first vaccine in the country that has received emergency use authorisation (EUA) for being administered in the 12 to 18 age group. The Centre is working with Zydus Cadila to decide on the price of the ZyCoV-D vaccine, official sources said adding that the government was aiming to launch the vaccine on the birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi.
The vaccine is based on the plasmid DNA technology and follows a three-dose regimen with a 28-day gap between each dose. The Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) gave its nod to the vaccine on August 20.
Developed in partnership with the department of biotechnology, ZyCoV-D is a first-of-its-kind DNA Vaccine that produces the spike protein of the SARS-CoV-2 to elicit an immune response. It is an intradermal vaccine that has to be applied using a ‘needle-free injector’, which the manufacturer says will help in reducing side effects.
Earlier this month, Niti Aayog member (health) Dr VK Paul had said ZyCoV-D could be made available under the national vaccination programme as early as October. “We are looking forward to receiving recommendations of the NTAGI on the beneficiary or target group to which the vaccine has to be given. The work is in progress and you will hear more about this in the times to come,” Paul said last week.
Zydus Cadila is now looking to begin clinical trials of an mRNA coronavirus vaccine even though a formal announcement is yet to be made. India is presently administering Covishield manufactured by the Serum Institute of India, apart from Hyderabad-based Bharat Biotech’s Covaxin and Russia’s Sputnik V vaccines for immunisation against the Covid-19 pandemic.
(Manas Dasgupta)
