Bhubaneswar: While Zycov-D, India’s first COVID-19 vaccine for those above 12, was approved by Drug Controller General, Director of Medical Education & Training (DMET) Dr CBK Mohanty said that the process to vaccinate above 12-year-old children will start in Odisha only after the necessary guidelines are issued by the Centre.
“As a national guideline is yet to be released by the Centre, it will not be appropriate to say when the process to vaccinate children will start in Odisha,” said Mohanty.
Zydus Cadila’s indigenously developed needle-free COVID-19 vaccine ZyCoV-D was granted the Emergency Use Authorisation (EUA) by the drug regulator on Friday, making it the first vaccine to be administered to beneficiaries in the age group of 12-18 years in the country.
The vaccine is meant for adults and children aged 12 years and above. ZyCoV-D uses a section of genetic material from the Covid virus that gives instructions as either DNA or RNA to make the specific protein that the human immune system recognises and responds to.
ZyCoV-D is a three-dose vaccine which produces the spike protein of the SARS-CoV-2 virus. The gap between the first and the second dose is 28 days while the third dose will be administered on 56th day.
