BE's Corbevax is the first such vaccine in India to be approved as a heterologous COVID-19 booster in the country.
This is for the first time that a booster dose that is different from the one used for primary vaccination against COVID has been allowed in the country.
The approval by the Drugs Controller General of India comes following recommendations by the Subject Expert Committee on COVID-19 of the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation.
Biological E Limited plans to complete production at a rate of 75 million doses of its COVID-19 vaccine Corbevax per month, anticipating over 100 million doses per month from February 2022 which will enable the Hyderabad-based company to deliver 300 Million doses as promised to the Centre, BE said on Tuesday.
By 2022, there is a plan to make an mRNA-technology vaccine, for which it has tied up with Canadian firm Providence Therapeutics.
India has covered enough population with vaccine and infection, but protein vaccines should remain available on payment basis for elderly and those with comorbidities.
According to respective company sources, Biological E is holding 200 million doses of its COVID-19 vaccine Corbevax while Bharat Biotech is sitting on a stockpile of 50 million doses of Covaxin.
Serum Institute of India (SII) and Bharat Biotech have also stopped producing the Covishield and Covaxin vaccines respectively.
Biological E has received approval for conducting phase II/III human clinical trial of COVID-19 vaccine candidate Corbevax on children above five years and adolescents, the Department of Biotechnology (DBT) said on Friday.
As of now, Gennova Biopharmaceuticals has launched a vaccine, Gemcovac-OM, which is based on the Omicron variant.
A study conducted by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) has observed that COVID-19 vaccination did not increase the risk of unexplained sudden death among young adults in India, the government informed Parliament on Friday.
According to CoWIN data, only 73 vaccination centres are currently active in India, of which 32 are government-run.
The Standing Technical Sub-Committee (STSC) of the National Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation (NTAGI) on Thursday recommended reducing the gap between the second and precaution doses of COVID-19 vaccines from the current nine to six months, official sources said.
'We seem to be in a situation where we can do little, and nothing needs to be done anyway.'
The announcement comes a day after the Subject Expert Committee (SEC) on COVID-19 of the CDSCO recommended granting emergency use authorisation (EUA) to the COVID-19 vaccines Covovax and Corbevax with certain conditions.
For the first time in two years, schools in the national capital will reopen completely in offline mode from April 1 with the hybrid mode of operation coming to an end.
The COVID-19 vaccine to be administered to the 12-14 years age group would be Corbevax manufactured by Biological Evans, Hyderabad.
Modi will arrive in New York on June 20 and will lead the 9th International Yoga Day celebrations at the UN headquarters on June 21.
Over 3 lakh children between 12 and 14 years have received their first shot of Covid vaccine taking the total doses administered in the country to over 180.80 crore, according to Union health ministry data.
A back of the envelope calculation shows that India has roughly over 680 million doses of Covid-19 vaccines consisting primarily of Covishield doses.
The active cases count comprised 0.03 per cent of the total infections, while the national COVID-19 recovery rate remained at 98.76 per cent, the health ministry said.
The drive has begun with Biological E's Corbevax vaccine to be administered 28 days apart. As of March 1, 2021, there were 4.7 crore children aged 12 and 13 years in the country.
Confirming the Drugs Controller General Of India (DCGI) approval, Serum Institute of India CEO Adar Poonawalla on Tuesday tweeted: '@SerumInstIndia's brand Covovax has completed bridging studies in India and has been granted Emergency Use Authorisation by DCGI for adults and for children above the age of 12. Younger age groups will follow shortly.'
The Centre said the upsurge of COVID-19 cases is happening in cities and the Omicron variant is the predominant circulating strain.
"Provide enough infrastructure and money to carry out surveillance and set up a robust routine surveillance machinery for the country to monitor any and every infectious disease'
Benchmark indices Sensex and Nifty retreated from over one-week highs to close lower on Wednesday due to profit booking in banking, IT and metal stocks amid weak global trends. After a two-day rally, the 30-share BSE Sensex dropped by 90.99 points or 0.16 per cent to settle at 57,806.49 in volatile trade. As many as 19 of its constituents declined while 11 advanced. The broader Nifty slipped by 19.65 points or 0.11 per cent to close at 17,213.60 with 31 of its stocks ending in the red.
The 30-share BSE Sensex surged by 477.24 points or 0.83 per cent to close at more than one-week high of 57,897.48. As many as 28 of its constituents closed with gains while two declined. The broad-based Nifty of the National Stock Exchange rose by 147.20 points or 0.86 per cent to settle 17,233.45, tracking gains in Sun Pharma, Asian Paints, and Reliance Industries.
The Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation has granted restricted emergency use authorisation to two new vaccines and a drug for COVID-19, taking the number of preventives and treatments available in India to 12.
India is not keen to 'bow down' to demands related to indemnity against legal liabilities in case any vaccine recipient develops severe adverse reactions post inoculation.
A second wave of Covid driven by the Delta variant engulfed the country in May-June bringing the health system to its knees and leaving people gasping for help.
The foreign ministers of the Quad grouping of India, the US, Australia and Japan on Friday held extensive talks in Melbourne amid escalating tension between Russia and NATO countries over Ukraine, the Afghan crisis and increasing concerns over China's "coercion" in the Indo-Pacific region.
'Your body will be able to deal with Omicron at any time, but it depends (on when) if you are vaccinated.'
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