New Delhi: The much-awaited ZyCoV-D COVID-19 vaccine will be introduced in India’s vaccination programme “very shortly”, Union Health secretary Rajesh Bhushan said on Thursday.
Zydus Cadila’s vaccine, the first one in India to receive emergency use authorisation (EUA) to be administered to adolescents in the age group of 12 to 18, may in fact be introduced on Saturday itself to coincide with Gandhi Jayanti.
The Union government is in talks with the Ahmedabad-based company Zydus Cadila to finalize the price of ZyCoV-D vaccine.
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The three-dose needle-free vaccine, cleared by Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) on August 20, will be administered with a 28-day gap between each dose.
ZyCoV-D, developed in partnership with Department of Biotechnology, is a first-of-its kind DNA vaccine that produces the spike protein of SARS-CoV-2 to produce immune response.
Being an intradermal vaccine to be applied using a needle-free injector, it will help reduce side effects, according to the manufacturer.
India had rolled out its vaccination programme on January 16 with two vaccines – AstraZeneca-developed and Serum Institute-produced Covishield and the indigenous Covaxin by Hyderabad-based Bharat Biotech. Russia’s Sputnik V was later approved as the third vaccine.
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