Zydus Vaccine for children: NITI Aayog member-health, Dr VK Paul said on Friday, that the Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) is examining Zydus Cadila's COVID-19 vaccine for children. He further said that the DCGI has still not decided on when the vaccine for children will be available as more data regarding the subject is needed. "The scientific process has to be completed. We have to be lucky that it should be effective and safe," he said.
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Dr Paul said that the Centre has targeted administering 50 crore doses of the vaccine before July and is moving towards the set target. The Centre has already ordered 66 crore doses of Covishield and Covaxin and 22 crore doses of the vaccines will go to the private sector.
Earlier, in an affidavit, the Centre had told the Delhi High Court that the ZyCoV-D vaccine can be available soon for children between the ages of 12 and 18 years. The affidavit said that the company which is developing the DNA vaccine has successfully concluded the clinical trials of the vaccine for the 12 to 18 years age group.
The pharmaceutical company said on July 1 that they are planning to roll out their COVID-19 vaccine within 45-60 days after the approval of DCGI. It further added that it will be able to produce four to five lakh vaccine doses a month in the beginning and will increase the doses to one crore per month after their new manufacturing facility becomes operational from July-end.
The COVID-19 vaccine of Zydus Cadila is expected to be approved both for adults and children this week. The Subject Expert Committee will make a recommendation about the vaccine to the Centre after reviewing the data and examining the information provided by the company. If approved, ZyCoV-D would be the fifth vaccine allowed for emergency use in the country.
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