New Delhi: Hyderabad-based firm Biological E has applied for Emergency Use Authorisation (EUA) for its COVID-19 vaccine Corbevax for children belonging to the age group of five to 12, news agency ANI quoted official sources as saying.
Biological E has submitted the data to the Subject Expert Committee (SEC) for beneficiaries between five to 12 years of age, official sources told ANI on Wednesday.
In February, the Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) granted emergency use approval to Corbevax for inoculating adolescents aged 12-18 years. Biological E said in a statement that Corbevax has received emergency EUA from the DCGI for the 12-to-18 age group, under certain conditions.
Corbevax is expected to receive the final EUA from the DCGI soon, ANI reported. Only after seeing the safety and immunogenicity data amongst this group, the SEC recommended EUA.
The vaccine is expected to have a cost of Rs 145, excluding taxes. Corbevax will be administered to the beneficiaries two times within prescribed intervals, an ANI report said.
The Central government has already purchased about five crore Corbevax vaccine doses and also delivered them to some states, official sources told ANI.
In September 2021, Biological E applied for Phase II and Phase III clinical trials. Biological E’s Corbevax is India’s first indigenously developed receptor-binding domain (RBD) protein sub-unit vaccine against Covid-19. The RBD is a part of the spike protein of SARS-CoV-2. The virus uses the spike protein to attach itself to host cells.
Corbevax is India's third indigenous Covid-19 vaccine after Covaxin and Zydus Cadila's ZyCoV-D.
In the past 24 hours, India reported 4,575 fresh Covid-19 cases, according to an update provided by the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare on Wednesday.
The Ministry also informed that more than 18.69 lakh vaccine doses have been administered in the last 24 hours.