After Oxford vaccine, Bharat Biotech’s Covaxin gets expert panel nod for emergency use, Cadila’s Zycov-D vaccine cleared for phase-3 trial

New Delhi: A day after granting emergency approval to Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine yesterday, the Subject Expert Committee of Central Drugs Standards Control Organisation (CDSCO) on Saturday Granted permission for restricted use in emergency situation to India’s indigenously developed COVID-19 vaccine ‘Covaxin’.

‘Covaxin’ has been developed by Hyderabad based Bharat Biotech in association with Indian Council for Medical Research (ICMR).

The expert committee has also granted permission for conduct of Phase-III Clinical Trial Protocol to M/s Cadila Healthcare Ltd, Ahmedabad for its vaccine candidate zycov-D.

India is planning to vaccinate about 30 crore population in the high risk category in the 6-8 months in the first phase. Ahead of the actual vaccination drive, the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare on Saturday conducted a nationwide mock drill at 285 session sites to test the end-to-end planned operations and the mechanism that has been set up to ensure smooth conduct of the COVID19 vaccination that is expected to begin soon. This dry run of the vaccination drive spread across 125 districts is covering all States and union territories.

Speaking India’s vaccine preparedness, union health minister Dr. Harshvardhan has said that the country’s cold chain infrastructure has been sufficiently upgraded to ensure last mile delivery. Adequate supplies of syringes and other logistics have also been provided for.