NEW DELHI: AMID a spike in Covid-19 cases in some parts of the country, the Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) on Tuesday approved three coronavirus vaccines for use in children. The drug regulator gave the restricted emergency use authorisation for Biological E’s Covid-19 vaccine Corbevax for children aged between five and 12 and Bharat Biotech’s Covaxin for the age group of 6-12 years.
DCGI has also granted permission to Cadila for its ZyCoV-D as an additional dose of 3mg with a two-jab inoculation schedule 28 days apart for those above 12 years. This vaccine will now be given on Day 0 and Day 28. Earlier, ZyCoV-D was approved in a three-dose regimen on Day 0, Day 28 and Day 56.
The new approvals were tweeted by Union Health Minister Dr Mansukh Mandaviya, who said India’s fight against Covid has become more robust. The announcement came as Prime Minister Narendra Modi is set to hold a virtual meeting with Chief Ministers on Wednesday to discuss the recent Covid spike. In the past fortnight, many school children have tested positive.
At the moment, Bharat Biotech’s inactivated whole virion vaccine is being administered in children aged 15-18 years and Biological E’s protein subunit vaccine in children aged 12-15 years under the national Covid-19 immunisation programme. The DCGI’s latest approval follows recommendations by the Subject Expert Committee on Covid-19.