Zydus Cadila's COVID Vaccine Price To Be Revealed Next Week, Supply Begins In Mid-Sept: Group MD

The world's first DNA-based vaccine for COVID-19 was approved to be administered to adults and children aged 12 years and above. It is also the second indigenous COVID vaccine in India after Covaxin.

New Delhi: Sharvil Pankajbhai Patel, Managing Director of Cadila Healthcare Ltd, on Saturday informed about the plans to roll out the ZyCOV-D vaccine doses after the drugmaker received the nod for the same.

The Drug Controller General of India had on Friday granted emergency use approval for ZyCoV-D, the COVID-19 vaccine by Zydus Cadila that is the world's first DNA shot against the coronavirus. 

"Next week (we) will have clarity on the price of the ZyCOV-D vaccine. The supply of vaccines will start in mid-September. We can scale up production of vaccines to 1 crore a month from October at the new production plant," Dr. Sharvil Patel, MD, Zydus Group was quoted by news agency ANI as saying.

The efficacy of our COVID-19 vaccine is over 66 per cent, and its efficacy against the Delta variant is about 66 per cent, he added.

The world's first DNA-based vaccine for COVID-19 was approved to be administered to adults and children aged 12 years and above.

About ZyCoV-D

The vaccine is developed in partnership with the Department of Biotechnology, Government of India under the 'Mission COVID Suraksha' and implemented by Biotechnology Industry Research Assistance Council (BIRAC).

This three-dose vaccine which when injected produces the spike protein of the SARS-CoV-2 virus and elicits an immune response that plays a vital role in protection from disease as well as viral clearance.

"The plug-and-play technology on which the plasmid DNA platform is based can be easily adapted to deal with mutations in the virus, such as those already occurring," the Department of Biotechnology under the Ministry of Science and Technology informed.

While most COVID vaccines need two doses or even a single dose, ZyCoV-D will be given in three doses - first on Day 0, second on Day 28, and the last on the 56th day.
The company had earlier said it also has a needle-free application system, as opposed to traditional syringes.

ZyCoV-D is the sixth vaccine authorised for emergency use in India and is the second indigenous COVID vaccine after Bharat Biotech's Covaxin.

Earlier, the company had also revealed that it is working on a two-dose vaccine.