Zydus Cadila's Covid-19 vaccine for 12 to 18-year-olds soon: Centre to Supreme Court

The Centre on Saturday told the Supreme Court that Zydus Cadila, which is developing DNA vaccines, has concluded its clinical trial for the age group of 12 to 18 years. Subject to the statutory permissions, the vaccine may be available in near future for children.

The Centre added that on May 12, 2021, the Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) permitted Bharat Biotech to conduct clinical trials on healthy volunteers between two years to 18 years for Covaxin.

The government also informed the apex court that 31 crore Covid-19 vaccines have been administered across the country by Friday and 135 crore vaccines are projected to be available by December 2021 to cover the entire eligible population.

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In a fresh affidavit, the Union government said the Prime Minister announced the revised vaccination policy on June 7 after receiving a request from Chief Ministers of 13 states as well as Health Ministers of various States with the objective of "maximising vaccination in the minimum possible time under the most extraordinary and unprecedented circumstances faced by the humanity in general and India in particular".

The Union government has earlier on June 2 faced rap from the top court, which found its vaccination policy as "prime facie arbitrary and irrational" for making states pay for procuring jabs.