Priority COVID-19 vaccination for children above 12 with comorbidities: Govt panel chief

NEW DELHI: The government advisory committee National Immunization Technical Advisory Group (NTAGI) has said that children above the age of 12 with comorbidities will be given priority for vaccination.

The announcement was made by NTAGI chief NK Arora, who added that vaccinating adults will remain the top priority for the government health agencies.

Arora, however, added that a portion of Zydus Cadila’s Zycov-D vaccine supply will be set aside for comorbid adolescents. The announcement came days after the Drug Controller General of India (DCGI) granted emergency approval to the Zycov-D.

Developed by the Ahmedabad-based Zydus Cadilla Group, Zycov-D is the first COVID-19 vaccine in India that can be administered to adults as well as those 12 and above.

Arora also reportedly informed that the process for approval of Bharat Biotech’s Covaxin for children will begin by September-end or October.

It may be noted that the DCGI had last week granted its approval to Zydus Cadila’s three-dose COVID-19 DNA vaccine for emergency use in adults and children aged 12 years and above, bringing in the sixth vaccine authorised for use in the country.

After the DCGI nod, the Ahmedabad-based company said it plans to manufacture 100 million to 120 million doses of ZyCoV-D annually and has started to stockpile the vaccine.

The generic drugmaker, listed as Cadila Healthcare Ltd, has sought authorisation of ZyCoV-D on July 1 on the basis of its efficacy rate of 66.6 per cent in a late-stage trial of over 28,000 volunteers nationwide.

The DCGI said that it will give approvals to Zydus Cadilla’s Zycov-D vaccine in a phased manner first starting with children aged 12 years and above in the first phase. The drug regulator added that the approvals will be given for the release of vaccines for 6 to 12 years of children and later for children aged between 2 to 6 years.

ZyCoV-D is also the world’s first plasmid DNA vaccine against the deadly coronavirus. 

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