JOIN USCovid-19 Vaccine Matters: India approves Zydus Cadila vaccine for children aged 12 and above
Indigenously developed Zydus Cadila's Covid-19 vaccine ZyCoV-D has received approval for Emergency Use Authorisation from the Drug Controller General of India and it will be administered to people 12 years and above.
Zydus Cadila on Saturday said it is looking to supply its Covid-19 vaccine ZyCoV-D by the middle to end of September, adding the pricing of the dose would be announced in the next one or two weeks.
Recently, AIIMS Director Dr Randeep Guleria had said that data of phase two and three trials of Bharat Biotech's Covaxin on 2 to 18 years age group was expected by September.
Meanwhile, Bengaluru-based biopharmaceutical company Biocon Biologics, a subsidiary of Biocon Ltd, is working on a biologic jab to prevent and treat coronavirus and its variants. The new drug, which is undergoing Phase 2 and Phase 3 trials, is likely to be launched during the next financial year. A top company official said the new jab, called ADG20, an antibody therapy being developed by Biocon’s partner, can be taken in outpatient settings. It targets the spike protein of SARS-CoV-2 and related coronaviruses.
Even as the country continues to scale new highs of daily Covid-19 vaccination, over 3.86 crore people did not get their second dose of anti-Covid vaccines -- Covishield and Covaxin -- within the stipulated period of time, the government said in response to an RTI query. In response to the query, the Covid-19 Vaccine Administration Cell of the Union Health Ministry said it is recommended the second dose of Covishield be taken within 84-112 days after the first, while in case of Covaxin the gap should between 28-42 days.
Amidst reports claiming that duplicate versions of Covishield vaccine were sold in the country, Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya on Thursday said the government has launched an inquiry into a report claiming that counterfeit versions of Covishield had been seized.
The trajectory of daily Covid cases shows a declining trend in India but the threat of a spike in infection continues to loom, and with the festive season approaching, there is a need to be extra cautious, warn AIIMS Directors.
India logged 36,571 new coronavirus infections, taking the total tally of Covid-19 cases to 3,23,58,829, while the national recovery rate improved to 97.54 per cent, the highest since March 2020, according to the Union Health Ministry data updated on Friday. The active cases have declined to 3,63,605, the lowest in 150 days, and comprise 1.12 per cent of the total infections, the lowest since March 2020, the ministry said.
In a major initiative, more than 32,000 people were vaccinated in the once Covid-19 hotspots of Dharavi and Worli in Mumbai, setting a Guinness World Record. As many as 30,467 people were registered for vaccination in a span of seven days, from August 7-14, and more than 32,000 vaccinations were administered in the two slum clusters.
With boosters being planned in the US as early as the fall for those who got the two-shot Pfizer and Moderna vaccines, recipients of the single-dose J&J jab might be wondering just how well their protection is holding up. Do you need a booster shot if you have got the Johnson & Johnson vaccine? Probably at some point, but health officials are still collecting the data needed to decide.
In a related development, scientists have also questioned the focus on booster shots when around 30 per cent of eligible Americans have yet to get even a first vaccine dose, despite new Covid-19 cases and deaths surging across the country.
According to a recent study, the effectiveness of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine against Covid-19 declines faster than that of the AstraZeneca jab.
Another study pointed out that AstraZeneca's antibody therapy met the main goal of preventing Covid-19 disease, putting the British drugmaker on track to potentially offer an alternative to vaccines for people with weakened immune systems. More than 75 per cent of the participants had chronic conditions, including some linked to a diminished immune response to vaccination, it said.
Meanwhile, US health officials are investigating reports that Moderna Inc's Covid-19 vaccine may be linked to a higher risk of a rare heart condition in younger adults than previously thought, the Washington Post reported late on Thursday, citing people familiar with the review. The report quoted a source saying it was too early for the regulators to reach a conclusion, and that additional work was needed before any recommendation was made.