Govt allows emergency use of Zydus Cadila’s Covid vaccine for children above 12 yrs of age

The Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) on Tuesday has given restricted use authorisation of three Covid-19 vaccines, the latest on the list is Zydus Cadila's ZyCoV-D. The vaccine is for children above the age of 12 years for a two-dose regimen, according to the news agency ANI.

Besides, the DCGI has also given emergency approval to Bharat Biotech's Covaxin for children between the age group of 6-12 on Tuesday. The drug regulator has also granted emergency use authorisation for Biological E's Covid-19 vaccine Corbevax for those aged five to 12 years.

ZyCoV-D is the first DNA plasmid vaccine in the world for human use, developed indigenously by the company against the Covid-19 virus. It is also the first Covid vaccine that is needle-free and administered using PharmaJet, a needle-free applicator to ensure painless intradermal vaccine delivery which also leads to a significant reduction in any kind of major side effects.

Whereas Biological E's Corbevax is being used to inoculate children against coronavirus in the age group of 12 to 14 years. Covaxin has been granted Emergency Use Listing (EUL) by the DCGI for the age group of 12 to 18 years on December 24, 2021.

India began inoculating children aged 12-14 on March 16.

The next phase of COVID-19 vaccination commenced on March 1 last year for people over 60 years of age and those aged 45 and above with specified co-morbid conditions.

India launched vaccination for all people aged more than 45 years from April 1 last year. The government then decided to expand its vaccination drive by allowing everyone above 18 years of age to be inoculated against the viral disease from May 1 last year.

The next phase of vaccination commenced on January 3 for adolescents in the age group of 15-18 years.

India began administering precaution doses of vaccines to healthcare and frontline workers and those aged 60 and above with comorbidities from January 10.

Precaution doses of COVID-19 vaccines to all aged above 18 years were allowed at private vaccination centres from April 10.