With the administration of the precautionary dose underway. SEC (Subject Expert Committee) under the health ministry, approved the two-shot Covid 19 vaccine by Zydus Cadila. 

In a mix and match clinical trial of its vaccine, the company has tested out ZyCov-D, the world’s first plasmid DNA vaccine as a booster dose with Covaxin or Covishield as a primary dose. At present, the same vaccines are being used for both doses under governmental regulations. However, the center is also looking forward to observe the immune response the vaccine will illicit. The company had received emergency authorization for vaccine administration for the 18+ group. Followed by suppling one crore dosage of ZyCov-D to the center costing Rs 1074 for three doses. 

The vaccine is administered intradermally using Pharma jet needle-free system at an interval of days 0, 28, and 56 sequentially. The vaccine should be stored at 2-8 degrees but has shown good thermostability at 25 degrees over three months. Recently, The Lancet medical journal published the vaccine’s phase 3 clinical trials results with its efficacy reported at 66.6% conducted on 28,000 volunteers across 50 sites in our country. 

The SEC approval is believed to be given after a thorough review of the protocol submitted by Zydus last October. The DCGI took the final call based on the recommendations and suggestions of the SEC expert panel.

Source: ET Healthworld