Zydus Cadila’s Covid-19 vaccine ZyCov-D, which has been cleared by India’s drug regulator for those aged 12 years and above, will only be administered to adults as of now under the government’s national anti-coronavirus vaccination programme, sources said. The health ministry has given a go ahead to initiate the preparatory work for the inclusion of the indigenously-developed, needle-free jab in the national Covid inoculation drive and it can be introduced in the programme anytime soon.
The ministry has already placed a purchase order with the Ahmedabad-based firm for 10 million doses of the vaccine. Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya said the government does not want to make haste about administering Covid vaccines to children and any decision in this regard will be taken based on expert opinion.
He said children are not being inoculated against Covid on a large scale anywhere in the world, though it has been initiated in some countries in a limited manner. “About vaccinating the children, we will take a decision based on expert opinion. We have decided to think and evaluate before going ahead with vaccinating children as they are the future of our country and we need to tread with caution in this matter,” Mandaviya had said.
ZyCov-D is the first Covid vaccine cleared by India’s drug regulator for inoculation of those aged 12 years and above. As for the emergency use approval for Bharat Biotech’s Covaxin in the age group of two to 18 years by the Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI), it is under expert opinion and evaluation, official sources said.
For administering ZyCov-D to adults, frontline workers and vaccinators will be provided a brief training for using the needle-free applicator in actual field settings.
