Zydus Cadila's COVID vaccine for children to be available soon: Centre to Delhi HC

The Centre in an affidavit told the Delhi High Court on Friday that pharmaceutical company Zydus Cadila's COVID-19 vaccine will be made available in the near future for children in the age group of 12 to 18 years. Zydus Cadila is now subject to statutory permissions, the Centre added. This latest update comes after Zydus Cadila concluded its trial for children between the age group 12 to 18 years. 

Zydus Cadila's COVID-19 vaccine for children likely to be available soon

Earlier, on July 1, the Ahmedabad-based pharmaceutical firm had requested emergency use approval for ZyCoV-D, its three-dose Covid shot - the world's first Plasmid DNA vaccine. 

The affidavit further submitted that vaccination is the Centre's topmost priority and all efforts are being made to achieve 100 per cent vaccination in the shortest time possible, keeping the availability of vaccine doses in mind. It also stated that on May 12, 2021, the Drug Controller General of India had permitted Bharat Biotech to conduct clinical trials on healthy volunteers between 2 to 18 years of age, for its vaccine - Covaxin. The affidavit was filed in the Delhi High Court by the Union Health Ministry on a plea filed by a minor, Tia Gupta, seeking immediate vaccination of minors between 12 to 17 years.

COVID-19 situation in India

India has so far recorded over 3,08,74,376 positive cases, out of which 3,00,14,713 have successfully recovered and 4,08,764 have died. As per the latest updates from MoHFW, in the past 24 hours, 37,154 new cases, 39,649 fresh recoveries and 724 deaths have been reported. Currently, the total number of active cases in the country is 4,50,899. 

(Image: ANI, Pixabay, PTI)