3-dose ZyCov-D for kids from Oct.: Zydus Cadila

The first Covid-19 vaccine that received emergency use authorisation among adolescents in India could become available as early as October, according to Zydus Cadila, manufacturer of the ZyCov-D vaccine.

This vaccine is the only one approved for use among the 12 to 18 years age group in India.

Zydus Cadila managing director Dr Sharvil Patel told the media on Saturday the company’s focus would be to see that the maximum doses of ZyCov-D vaccine is available to adolescents. “If adults choose to take it, it will be available to them too,” he said.

The three-dose vaccine will be administered at an interval of 28 days, and the course will be completed in two months. The vaccination will be administered intradermally using the device developed by Pharmajet, a US-based company.

Dr Patel said discussions

on pricing and the commercial roll-out of the vaccine will be the next steps the company will be working with the regulatory authorities. While a large portion of the vaccine will be given to the government, there are opportunities to provide them to private markets too.

Initially, the company hopes to produce around one crore doses by the end of September or October and scale up the production to around 4 crore doses by December.

Talks were also on with three companies in India for licensing the production of the vaccine.

He said the first two phases of the ZyCov-D trials have shown it had a 66.6 per cent efficacy against the Delta variant of the Coronavirus. The vaccine can be stored between 2º Celsius and 8º Celsius, and can withstand temperatures of up to 25ºC for up to three months. This means, it can go through freeze and thaw cycles and its efficacy not get affected in the process, he said.