ZyCoV-D: Zydus Cadila’s Needle-Free COVID Vaccine’s Official Pricing Announced

The country's drugs regulator, DGCI, had approved Zydus Cadila's ZyCoV-D vaccine for emergency use on August 20.

New Delhi: The price of Zydus Cadila’s COVID-19 vaccine named ZyCoV-D has been finalised. This development comes after the Centre placed an order of one crore needless ZyCoV-D doses.

According to an official statement, the price of the vaccine has been fixed at Rs 265 per dose. The needle-free applicator will cost Rs 93 per dose. GST will further be added to the cost.

It was further informed that Zydus Cadila has received an order to supply one crore doses of ZyCoV-D, to the Government of India at Rs 265 per dose and the needle-free applicator being offered at Rs 93 per dose, excluding GST. The pricing has been decided in consultation with the Union government.

Speaking on the development, the Managing Director of the company, Dr Sharvil Patel said, “We are happy to support the Government’s vaccination programme with ZyCoV-D. The needlefree application of the vaccination, we hope, will motivate many more to vaccinate and safeguard themselves from COVID-19, especially children and young adults in the age group of 12 to 18 years.”

Notably, ZyCoV-D is the first DNA plasmid vaccine in the world for human use, developed indigenously by the company against the COVID-19 virus.

It is also the first COVID-19 vaccine which is needle-free and administered using 'The PharmaJet', a needle-free applicator to ensure painless intradermal vaccine delivery which also leads to a significant reduction in any kind of major side effects.

ZyCoV-D has shown good stability at temperatures of around 25 degrees for at least three months. The thermostability of the vaccine will help in easy transportation and storage of the
vaccine without any problems of fluctuations in temperature, the company’s official statement read.

According to Zydus Cadila, a temperature of 2-8 degrees is sufficient for prolonged use. Being a DNA plasmid vaccine, ZyCoV-D does not have any problem associated with vector based immunity.

The DNA Plasmid platform allows generating new constructs quickly to deal with mutations in the virus, it stated.

The country’s drugs regulator, DGCI, had approved Zydus Cadila’s ZyCoV-D vaccine for emergency use on August 20.

It is a three-dose vaccine that will be administered on day zero, day 28, and day 56. The vaccine has been approved to be administered to adolescents between ages 12 and 18.