Covid: Zydus vaccine to be introduced in inoculation drive soon

NEW DELHI: Zydus Cadila’s Covid vaccine ZyCoV-D – the world’s first DNA vaccine that has received emergency use authorisation in India - will be introduced into the national Covid-vaccination programme soon, officials said.

The government said ZyCoV-D will be procured at a price different from Covishield and Covaxin – the two vaccines that are currently being used in government’s inoculation programme.

“We are in conversation with the manufacturer. Since this (ZyCoV-D) is a three dose vaccine and since it comes with needleless delivery system, it would have a different pricing that which are being used in the Covid vaccination programme,” health secretary Rajesh Bhushan said.

Currently, the government procures Serum Institute of India’s Covishield at Rs 205 per dose and Bharat Biotech’s Covaxin at Rs 215 per dose.

“It would be introduced shortly in the vaccination programme,” Bhushan added without mentioning a date for its rollout.

While ZyCoV-D has secured emergency use authorisation for use in all above 12 years of age, the government is unlikely to start inoculating children above 12 years of age immediately after the rollout, official sources said.

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