On Wednesday, an expert panel of the central drug authority will discuss granting market authorization to SII’s COVID-19 vaccine, Covovax. They will decide on conferring it as a heterologous booster dose for adults who have completed their vaccination schedule with two doses of Covishield or Covaxin.

This was decided after Dr. Prakash Kumar Singh, Director of Government and Regulatory Affairs at the Serum Institute of India (SII), wrote a letter to the Drug Controller General of India (DCGI) seeking approval for Covovax as a heterologous booster dose for adults. Official sources have revealed that the letter and permission were sought after an escalating trend of the pandemic was seen in some countries.

The DCGI authorized Covovax for restricted use in emergency cases for adults on December 28, 2021; for those between the ages of 12 and 17 on March 9, 2022; and for children between the ages of 7 and 11 on June 28, 2022. It has also been approved by the European Medicines Agency.