ZyCov-D: National Rollout Of New Covid Vaccine Likely In Next Two Weeks, Final Checks On

The national rollout of Zydus Cadila’s ZyCov-D Covid vaccine will take a couple of weeks as its different batches are going through a final round of quality checks at a vaccine testing laboratory in Himachal Pradesh.

The three-dose vaccine is the first vaccine that has attained the emergency use authorization (EUA) for being administered to even those who are aged 12 years and above.

“Different batches of ZyCoV-D are undergoing a final round of quality checks at the vaccine testing laboratory in Himachal Pradesh,” Dr NK Arora, chairman of the central government’s working group on the National Technical Advisory Group on Immunization (NTAGI), was quoted by the Times of India (TOI).

He added, “If everything goes as per plan, the vaccine will be introduced in the immunisation programme by October 15-20.”

Dr Arora further added that they need to make sure that there is sufficient availability of one crore monthly doses for the coming three months given that it is a three-dose vaccine.

The ZyCov-D vaccine is based on the plasmid DNA technology and there will be a 28-day gap between each of its doses. It is an intradermal vaccine and will be subsequently applied through a needle-free injector, which is reported to reduce vaccine-related side-effects too.