Serum Institute of India to launch 'Covovax' COVID vaccine for children in six months

Amid surging Omicron cases across India, Serum Institute of India (SII) CEO Adar Poonawalla announced on Tuesday that his company has planned to launch a COVID vaccine for children in the next six months. He also said the vaccine 'Covovax' is under trial and would offer protection to children till three years. 

While addressing a conference, Poonawalla stated, ""We haven't seen a lot of severe disease in children. Fortunately, the panic is not there for children. However, we will be launching a vaccine in six months for children, hopefully down to the age of three."

"I think yes, you should take and get your children vaccinated. There is no harm, these vaccines have been proven to be safe and efficacious and all of that. If you feel you want to get your children vaccinated by all means wait for government announcements on that and you go ahead with that. Our vaccine 'Covovax' will be launched for children in six months," he added. 

Meanwhile, the SII has sought approval from India's drug regulator for Covishield as a booster dose citing adequate stock of the vaccine in the country and a demand for a booster shot due to the emergence of new COVID variants. In an application to the Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI), Prakash Kumar Singh, the Director, Government and Regulatory Affairs at Serum Institute of India (SII) cited that the UK's Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency has already approved the booster dose of AstraZeneca ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 vaccine. Singh is learnt to have said in the application that as the world continues to face the pandemic situation, many countries have started administering booster dose of COVID-19 vaccines.

Omicron in India

As the new COVID-19 variant Omicron continues to grip the country with fresh infections every day, the total count of Omicron cases has climbed to 49, with four new infections each in Delhi and Rajasthan on Tuesday. With that, the number of cases in Delhi has now risen to 6, while Rajasthan stands at 13. The new COVID-19 variant, Omicron, is a highly transmissible virus and has already been declared as a 'variant of concern' by the World Health Organisation. The variant which was first detected in South Africa has so far spread across various countries including India.

(With PTI Inputs)