Zydus to produce over 3 crore doses from next year Jan

New Delhi, August 21: India's second homegrown Covid-19 vaccine, ZyCoV-D, developed by pharma giant Zydus Cadila, is set to be launched by September in the country. The vaccine developers received the approval on Friday to vaccinate the age group of 12 and above.

According to Dr. Sharvil Patel, Managing Director, Zydus Cadila, the company at present has a manufacturing capacity of 30-40 lakh doses in September, but will increase the manufacturing upto 1 crore doses by October followed by 3-5 crore doses production by next year January end.

The vaccine makers are optimistic on the acceptance chances of it in the market since it's the first vaccine in the market for younger age group. It is the world's first plasmid DNA vaccine against the coronavirus. ZyCoV-D is a three-dosage vaccine and will be administered using a needle-free applicator as opposed to traditional syringes.

On vaccine hesitancy, Dr. Patel said, "I think it's a choice that person makes and it all depends what comfort level they see with different platforms. There would be a better pick-up with age groups of 12 to 18 years because it's the only one available (for paediatric age group), but I believe we have seen enough interest from adult population as well also wanting to take the vaccine."

He also said that the Zydus Cadila has, as of now, shifted all its focus on manufacturing Covid-19 vaccine and has put on hold the developments for measles vaccines. The vaccine pricing is yet to be decided since the pharma group is in talk with the Central government.

The sixth vaccine, overall, to be approved in India, ZyCov-D is developed in partnership with the Department of Biotechnology for emergency use. Listed under Cadila Healthcare Ltd., ZyCoV-D has conducted late-stage trial on approximately 28,000 volunteers in country and claims to have an efficacy rate of 66.6 per amongst them. The makers also claimed that no severe to moderate side-effects were reported across the age groups.