Zydus Cadila's 3-dose vaccine ZyCOVD to get Centre's emergency nod this week: Sources

In another boost to India's vaccination, sources on Monday, said that Zydus Cadila's vaccine ZyCov-D's approval will occur in this week. Zydus Cadila applied for Emergency Use Authorisation (EUA) for ZyCoV-D on July 1, after the completion of the third phase of trials. The Ahmedabad-based company which has developed the world's first DNA COVID-19 vaccine, seeks to launch it for 12 years & above - making it the first vaccine aimed to innoculate teenaged children in India. The vaccine's interim trial data shows efficacy of  66.6%.

Zydus Cadila's emergency nod this week

J&J vaccine approved in India

On Saturday, Johnson & Johnson's single-dose Janssen vaccine was given approval for Emergency Use in India, informed Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya. With Janssen vaccine, India's vaccine basket has expanded to five - Covishield, Covaxin, Sputnik V, Moderna vaccine (mRNA-1273) and now J&J's Janssen vaccine. J&J has already announced that its vaccine generated strong, persistent activity against the rapidly spreading Delta variant and other highly prevalent COVID variants.

How is ZyCoV-D different?

As per its website, ZyCoV-D is a DNA vaccine based on plasmid DNA - a small, circular and extrachromosomal bacterial DNA. The plasmid DNA with its property of self-replication carries the genetic code of the virus. This helps the plasmids make spike protein and develop antibodies. ZyCoV-D is a three-dose vaccine injected at an interval of 28 days each. ZyCoV-D is manufactured by Zydus Cadila in collaboration with the Centre's National Biopharma Mission.

According to the company's website, Phase-3 clinical trials were conducted on  30,000 healthy adult volunteers and was found to be safe, well-tolerated and immunogenic. In phase-1/2 trials, after conducting trials on 1000 volunteers, the vaccine was found to be safe and elicit a strong immunogenic response. The vaccine trials were conducted in over 60 plus sites and is stable at 2 to 8 degrees.

Moreover, Zydus Cadila chief Dr Sharvil Patel said that the vaccine uses no needles for injecting. The vaccine vial comes with a spring-powered device which delivers the shot in a precise stream into the recipient. Zydus aims to produce 5 crore doses by December 2021. Dr Patel has stated two doses of ZyCoV-D itself must be sufficient to prevent hospitalisation due to COVID-19. There are four more vaccines in the pipeline - Gennova's mRNA vaccine, Biological E's Corbevax, Covaxin's nasal vaccine and Novovax's Covovax.