Saturday, 21 August 2021 | PNS | New Delhi
The subject expert committee (SEC) on Covid-19 of the DCGI has recommended granting emergency approval to the Zycov-D, a vaccine developed by the Ahmedabad-based Zydus Cadila group, on Friday, making it the first vaccine in India that can be administered to adults as well as those 12 and above. It’s the only DNA-based vaccine in the world and can be administered without a needle.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi tweeted, “The approval for world’s first DNA-based ‘ZyCov-D’ vaccine of Zydus Cadila is a testimony to the innovative zeal of India’s scientists. A momentous feat indeed,” tweets PM Modi
Interim results from Phase-III Clinical Trials, in July, in over 28,000 volunteers, showed a primary efficacy of 66.6 per cent for symptomatic RT-PCR positive cases. The Department of Biotechnology said in a statement on Friday that, “this has been the largest vaccine trial so far in India for COVID-19. This vaccine had already exhibited robust immunogenicity and tolerability and safety profile in the adaptive Phase I/II clinical trials carried out earlier. Both the Phase I/II and Phase III clinical trials have been monitored by an independent Data Safety Monitoring Board (DSMB).”
