Covovax: SII wrote a letter to the Ministry of Health, demanding the inclusion of Covovax in the Cowin Portal
Earlier the Drug Controller General of India (DCGI) had approved the market authorization for Covax on January 16 as a heterologous booster dose for adults.
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In December last year, the Zero Kovid-19 policy implemented by the Chinese government regarding the Corona epidemic was abolished after almost three years. Due to which there has been a huge increase in corona cases after a few weeks. In view of the rise in Corona in China, the Government of India has taken strict steps. Meanwhile, the Serum Institute of India has written to the Union Health Ministry seeking inclusion of its Covid vaccine Covax as a heterologous booster dose for adults in the Covin portal. Official sources gave information about this on Wednesday. Earlier, an expert panel of the Central Drug Regulatory Authority had recommended the launch of Covax in the market. Significantly, Covax will be given as a heterogeneous booster dose to adults who have been given two doses of Covishield or Covaxin.
According to sources, the letter to the health ministry was written by Prakash Kumar Singh, director of government and regulatory affairs at the Serum Institute of India (SII). At the same time, sources have also told that soon the permission of the National Technical Advisory Group on Immunization (NTAGI) is likely to be given regarding the inclusion of Kovid vaccine Covax on the CoWIN portal.
Earlier the Drug Controller General of India (DCGI) had approved the market authorization for Covax on January 16 as a heterologous booster dose for adults. Those who have been given two doses of Covishield or Covaxin. The DCGI's approval was based on the recommendations of the Subject Expert Committee (SEC) of the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation.
DCGI approved on 28 December 2021 for use in emergency situations for adults with conditions. Covax was then approved for children aged 12-17 on 9 March 2022 and for children aged 7-11 on 28 June 2022 with certain conditions.
Covax is manufactured by Serum Institute of India through technology transfer from Novavax. It has been approved by the European Medicines Agency for conditional marketing authorisation. It was included in the emergency-use list by the World Health Organization (WHO) on 17 December 2021. In August 2020 US-based vaccine maker Novavax Inc announced a license agreement with SII for the development and commercialization of its corona vaccine candidate NVX-CoV2373 in India and low-middle-income countries.