The DCGI (Drugs Controller General of India) provided a restricted emergency authorisation to use Covaxin of Bharat Biotech in collaboration with ICMR and for children in the age group of 6-12 amidst the uprising in covid cases in schools in tier-I cities across the country. The SEC (Subject Expert Committee)is the one that gave recommendations on Covid-19 of the CDSCO(Central Drugs Standard Control Organization)and DCGI’s approval comes right after this. A meeting was also held earlier by the panel to discuss the recommendations.
The DCGI directed the maker of the vaccine to submit the data of safety, with due analysis every 15 days for the first two months, along with the adverse events’ data. Bharat Biotech needs to submit the data for up to 5 months monthly.
Emergency Use Listing (EUL) was granted to Covaxin by the DCGI in previous year’s December for children in the age group of 12 to 18 years. Being one of the two major vaccines in India, it is recently being administered along with Serum Institute of India’s Covishield vaccine. Currently it is being made available for those children who are in the age group of 15-18.
• Corbevax:
DCGI has also granted the authorisation of emergency use for Hyderabad-based Biological E’s Corbevax for the children between the age group of 5 to 12 years. This vaccine is the first indigenously-made protein sub-unit vaccine against Covid-19. This authorisation may be subject to specific future conditions. Presently this vaccination is provided to those who are in the age group of 12 to 14.
There is also Zydus Cadila’s ZycovD vaccine that has been approved for usage for children who are above twelve years of age with a full regimen of two-dose. Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya has declared on Twitter that with the recent approvals India’s fight against the coronavirus has become much stronger. Naresh Trehan, the Chairman and Managing Director of Medanted also mentioned this significant development as a welcome move. He further added that this was certainly a vulnerable group according to age. There’s no short cuts in vaccination process. As all the efficacy and safety checks have been cleared, the elders will also be safe now.
The vaccination drive for Covid-19 for adolescents in the age range of 15 to 18 years started on 3rd January of 2022. Later, in the last month, the process was expanded to include children above twelve years in it.
In January last year, India began the world’s largest vaccination process for Covid-19 in the fight against the pandemic for all the frontline warriors. The vaccination drive was expanded for people above 60 two months later and in April-May, for all people who are above 45 years of age. From May, it was further expanded by allowing everyone above 18 to be vaccinated to fight against the viral disease.
The booster doses were also cleared for the adults earlier this month. According to a statement from the Ministry of Health, almost 188 crore vaccine doses have been administered for people under nationwide vaccination drive. Though the cases in India surged above 2000, the situation is regarded to be under control compared to Asian countries like China and other few in Europe where the spike has been up and rising since March.