Children will soon get corona vaccine as Zydus vaccine is already being tested on children

New Delhi: Amidst the news that the third wave of corona is more deadly for children, a good news is that the vaccine may be available for children in the country soon. The central government has indicated on Friday that the corona vaccine for children may come this month. According to the government, the Zydus Cadila vaccine may soon be approved, which has also been tested on children aged 12-18 years.

NITI Aayog member Dr VK Paul said during the press conference on Friday that trials have started on children of the vaccine, but it will not take long to complete, because the tests are of immunity. Whereas Zydus Cadila's vaccine has been tested on children. Hopefully she can come for the license in the next two weeks. When approving the vaccine, a decision may also be made on whether to give it to children.

800-100 children also included in the test

Phase III trials of Zydus Cadila's vaccine have been completed. Its trial also includes 800-100 children, aged between 12-18 years. Therefore, this vaccine is likely to be approved for children in the age group of 12-18 years and Paul has also indicated so. However, the final decision is made by an expert group based on the test data. If he applies for the license within two weeks, it will hardly take another week for the approval process. That is, the vaccine may be available this month.

three-dose vaccine

The Cadila vaccine is a three-dose vaccine. It is an intradermal vaccine given into the skin. It is not given by injection, but is inserted through a separate device into the foreskin. Therefore, this vaccine will be more useful for children. In the next phase, Cadila will also test it on children under the age of 12. The vaccine has been supported under the National Biopharma Mission of the central government. A Cadila spokesperson said all three phases of the vaccine trials have been completed and data is being collected. After that an application will be made to the Drug Controller for approval.

test on variants

A special feature of this vaccine is that it has been recently updated on double variants apart from UK, Brazil, South Africa.

test on 28 thousand

The vaccine has been tested on about 28 thousand people, of which around one thousand are children of 12-18 years.

25-26 crore vaccines needed

VK Paul said that there should be sufficient availability of vaccines before starting vaccination in children. He said that even in the age group of 12-18 years, there is a population of 13-14 crores. At least 25-26 crore vaccines are needed for them. He said that if many vaccines are available in the coming days, then it will be easy.

Cadila's potential

Cadila has a capacity to produce 1-2 crore vaccines per month, but has said it will increase it to 2.5-3 crore in the next six months.

and preparation on young children

In the next phase, Cadila will test children under the age of 12. A company spokesperson said, all three phases of trials have been completed and data is being collected, will apply soon.