Indian pharma major Zydus Cadila said on Thursday it has applied for emergency use approval of its COVID-19 vaccine and plans to manufacture up to 120 million doses of the shot annually.
ZyCoV-D showed safety and efficacy in a late-stage trial with more than 28,000 volunteers across the country, including about 1,000 subjects in the 12-18 year age group, Zydus said.
The study was carried out "during the peak of the second wave of COVID-19 in India, reaffirming the vaccine's efficacy against the new mutant strains, especially the Delta variant," Zydus informed the stock exchanges.
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The development comes at a time when the country has accelerated its inoculation drive under the Prime Minister’s free vaccines for all scheme. The government is keen to roll out more vaccines at the earliest.
An approval for Zydus' vaccine, ZyCoV-D, would make it the third India-made vaccine authorized for use in the country after Serum Institute of India's Covishield being produced in partnership with AstraZeneca and Bharat Biotech's Covaxin. Russia’s Sputnik V has also been cleared for use and is being imported into the country with production of the doses expected to start in India in July. Besides, the USA’s Moderna vaccine has been okayed for use, imports of which are expected to start soon.
The vaccine developed by Ahmedabad-based Zydus Cadila will be available soon for children aged between 12-18 years, the central government said in an affidavit to the Supreme Court recently.
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The centre plans to vaccinate all adults in the country by the end of the year and it estimates 51.6 crore cumulative vaccinations by the end of July.
The Centre said the projected availability of vaccines from August to December will cover the balance 135 crore doses as per this break-up: 50 crore doses of Covishield, 40 crore doses of Covaxin, 30 crore doses of Bio E’s sub unit vaccine, 5 crore doses of Zydus Cadila DNA vaccine and 10 crore doses of Sputnik V.
The government also said this “does not include other vaccines which are at various stages of development as on date within the country and may come and become available”.
