COVID-19: Know when the kids in India shall get their Covaxin vaccination dose. The Government of India recently approved the covaxin vaccine for children
Bharat Bio-Tech developed COVID-19 vaccine Covaxin (BBV152) has been recommended for emergency use by Subject Expert Committee (SEC) of the Central Drugs Standard Control Organization (CDSCO) for the age group of 2-18 years old.
After the ZyCoV-D vaccine developed by Zydus Healthcare for the children above 12 years, now Covaxin is the second COVID-19 vaccine to be approved for the usage in emergency purpose among children of the age group 2-18 years
Hyderabad based Bharat Bio-Tech completed Phase-2 and Phase-3 trials of Covaxin on children below 18 years.
The subject experts committee (SEC) gave positive recommendation after the clinical trials on the age group of 2-18 years old. The reports of clinical trials were submitted on Tuesday to Drugs Controller General Of India (DCGI).
“After detailed deliberation, the committee recommended for grant of market authorization of the vaccine for the age group of 2 to 18 years for restricted use in emergency situation,” the subject expert panel said in a statement.
The vaccine will be administered in two doses, with a gap of 20 days in between the first and second dose.
Few other vaccines that are lined up for childrens in India includes:
Corbevax: The DCGI has also granted permission to Hyderabad-based Biological E Limited to start conducting second and third phase clinical trials a homegrown vaccine on children aged between 5 and 18 with certain conditions.
Zydus Cadila: ZyCov-D three dose needle free vaccine got approval in August for emergency use on adults as well as adolescents aged 12 and above.
Novavax/Covovax: American based vaccine, known as Cocovax in India got permission to run second and third phase trials of the first protein subunit vaccine on children aged 2 to 17 with certain conditions and is expected to launch the vaccine for children early next year.