The research work for the development of vaccines for children over the age of 12 to 18 years was going on for a long time. In India, Zydus Cadila’s ZyCoV-D and Bharat Biotech’s Covaxin were the only two vaccine candidates in the race of being tested among children. They are also the only vaccines to be developed indigenously.
Now, with approval from the center, Zydus Cadila’s vaccine, ZyCoV-D, will be used in an emergency in India. It will be administered to people 12 years and above. The department of biotechnology (DBT) said, “Zydus Cadila has received approval for Emergency Use Authorisation (EUA) from the Drug Controller General of India (DCGI) for ZyCoV-D today i.e. 20/08/2021, the world’s first and India’s indigenously developed DNA-based vaccine for COVID-19 to be administered in humans including children and adults 12 years and above.”
ZyCoV-D has been supported by the Covid-19 Research Consortia through National Biopharma Mission for preclinical studies, Phase I and Phase II clinical trials, and by the Mission COVID Suraksha for Phase III Clinical Trial.