India to buy 1 crore doses of Zydus Cadila's Covid-19 vaccine at Rs 265 each

India's drug regulator had approved the three-dose shot, ZyCoV-D, for emergency use in adults and children aged 12 years and above

Pharmaceutical major Zydus Cadila on Monday said that it received an order from the Union government to supply one crore doses of needle-free shot ZyCoV-D – the world’s first DNA vaccine against Covid-19 – at a cost of Rs 265 per dose.

For a recipient, the cost is Rs 358 for a single dose as each dose comes with a needle free vaccine-applicator costing Rs 93. However, at the moment the Centre is paying for the entire package and the consumers won't have to pay anything.

“We are happy to support the government’s vaccination programme with ZyCoV-D. The needle-free application of the vaccination, we hope, will motivate many more to vaccinate and safeguard themselves against Covid-19, especially children and young adults in the age group of 12 to 18 years” Sharvil Patel, managing director of the company, said in a statement.

The Centre is yet to take a call on the vaccination of adolescents as the matter is being discussed by an expert committee commissioned by the National Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation.

Also read: Over 15.6 crore unutilised vaccination doses available with states, UTs: Health Ministry

A comprehensive programme for paediatric immunisation including developing a priority list of comorbidities is being worked out by the NTAGI for the launch of ZyCoV-D and Covaxin, which also received the regulator's approval for administering the vaccine in the 2-18 years age group.

The government’s order of one crore doses is just one-fifth of what the Union Health Ministry expected to buy from the Gujarat-based company between August and December.

The Centre had earlier informed the Supreme Court that it hoped to procure 5 crore doses from Zydus as a part of its planned purchase of 135 crore doses that are required to vaccinate the target population of 94.47 crore individuals. The target, however, doesn’t include 12-18-year-olds.

The company in August had claimed to launch the commercial rollout of the vaccine by September-end with 30-40 lakh doses and start generating one crore doses by October-end. It hoped to produce four crore doses by December.

The three-dose vaccine with 66 per cent efficacy is the first DNA vaccine in the world for human use, developed indigenously by the company with support from the Department of Biotechnology.

It is also the first Covid-19 vaccine, which is needle-free and administered using an applicator (Called PharmaJet) to ensure painless intradermal vaccine delivery.

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