Zydus Cadila is planning to apply for the COVID-19 vaccine trial for children of age group 3-12, the company’s MD Dr Sharvil Patel said on Saturday.
“The vaccine development journey starts by first trying it in adults, then adolescents, and then children. We will now file for a trial in children of the age group of 3-12 in the next 7-10 days.” Patel told India Today.
Speaking about the side effects of the ZyCoV-D vaccine, Patel said, “We have done the trials on 1,400 adolescents of 12-18 years. In all the trials, we have not seen any severe side effects related to the vaccine.” The trials were conducted in 2,800 adults and 1400 adolescents across 50 centres.
Labelled as one of the largest vaccine trials in the country, ZyCoV-D vaccine trials were conducted on 28,000 volunteers. Interim results from Phase-III Clinical Trials showed primary efficacy of 66.6 per cent for symptomatic RT-PCR positive cases.
Patel in a press conference said that the pharma company is looking to supply the vaccine from September. “In the next one or two weeks we will have better clarity on the pricing,” he further added.
Zydus Cadila’s ZyCoV-D vaccine received approval for Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) from the Drug Controller General of India (DCGI) on August 20. The vaccine is said to be the world’s first indigenously developed DNA-based vaccine for COVID-19. ZyCoV-D will be administered to adolescents of the age group 12-18 along with adults.
