Vaccine for children has been a major cause of concern. Firstly, vaccinating health care workers and older people was an urgent responsibility. Now, the time has come for children to get vaccinated. Zydus Healthcare’s ZyCoV-D is meant for children above 12 years of age. It was the first vaccine that was approved for emergency use for children in India. However, Covaxin is the second Covid-19 vaccine to be approved. It is still in line.
Covaxin for 2-18 Years Old
Covaxin is India’s first indigenous vaccine developed by Bharat Biotech. The vaccine is developed in collaboration with the Indian Medical Research Council (ICMR) and the National Institute of Virology (NIV). After the wide use in the country, Bharat Biotech’s COVID-19 vaccine Covaxin (BBV152) has been recommended for Emergency Use Authorisation (EUA) for 2-18- year-olds. It has been recommended by the Subject Expert Committee (SEC) of the Central Drugs Standards Control Organisation (CDSCO).
In September, Bharat Biotech has completed Phase-2 and Phase-3 trials of Covaxin on children below 18 years of age. Subsequently, they submitted the trial data to the Drugs and Comptroller General of India (DCGI) at the start of October.
An official has claimed that Covaxin’s efficacy among children was found to be similar to that in adults. But, the verdict on its inclusion in the national vaccination program was yet to be confirmed.
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However, the final approval for the vaccine for children aged 2-18 is awaited. It is under expert opinion and evaluation. Reportedly, the DCGI will hold discussions with the Health Minister, the Prime Minister’s Office, and Bharat Biotech. Only after the approval is given, the vaccine will be granted Emergency Use Authorization ( EUA) to Covaxin. Earlier, the DCGI had granted EUA for Zydus Cadila vaccine candidate ZyCoV-D for use in children. Stay Strong and get vaccinated.
However, WHO (World Health Organisation) experts will take the final decision on whether to grant emergency use listing to Covaxin or not.
