Up until now, no Covid vaccine in India was authorised to be administered to teenagers. But that isn’t the case anymore. The Indian drug regulator’s subject expert committee has recommended emergency use of Zydus Cadula’s three-dose Covid vaccine – ZyCoV-D.
ZyCoV-D is the first Covid vaccine authorised to be administered to teenagers in India. The vaccine was tested on around 1000 subjects in the 12-18 age group. It was identified that the vaccine was safe and effective.
The primary efficacy of ZyCoV-D is 66.6%. It is also the first DNA vaccine approved for usage in the country. As per the data submitted by the manufacturer, Zydus Cadila, ZyCoV-D is 66.6% effective against symptomatic Covid cases and 100% effective against moderate and mild cases.
ZyCoV-D is also the first needle free vaccine in India. It will be applied using a ‘needle free injector’, which will apparently reduce the side effects that are usually associated with Covid vaccines.
