as India News18.com has learned that battling to boost coverage of the precautionary dose, the pace of vaccine trials at the country’s top laboratory in Himachal Pradesh appears to be slowing down.
From an average monthly inflow of 25 to 30 batches of Bharat Biotech’s Covaxin and Serum Institute of India’s Covishield, the throughput and testing at Central Pharmaceutical Laboratory, Kasauli has come down to six-seven batches.
“The flow to SII’s Coveshield was reduced to zero and now the batches have started coming again. Covaxin is not coming from BB’s facility but through its bulk manufacturing partner,” said a top government official.
“Overall, the flow for the test is not even half what it was before,” he said, adding that the door-to-door booster drive could once again increase the flow.
status check
The uptake of booster shots is low across India and some states with relatively high coverage of the eligible population (18+ years) with booster doses are Ladakh, Andhra Pradesh, Andaman & Nicobar Islands, Lakshadweep, Sikkim and Delhi.
Tamil Nadu and Jharkhand have the lowest coverage in the country, at less than 2% of the eligible population.
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Covaxin is also approved for adults 18 years of age and older, adolescents starting 15 years old, and ages 6-12, while CovaShield is only approved as a vaccine and booster for adults 18 years of age and older. approved in.
Currently, the lab is testing batches of the biological E’s Corbevax, approved for children starting at age 5, and awaits further approval for the odd booster shot. So far more than six crore doses have been cleared.
Genova’s mRNA candidate that has been approved for storage is also being tested with SII’s Kovovax, which is primarily used in exports.
The Curious Case of ZYCOV-D’s Pending Node
According to two officials, one from the health ministry and the other from the CDL, over 15 lakh doses of lab-approved ZyCov-D are awaiting approval from the drug regulator, the Drug Controller General of India (DCGI), since March.
“CDL has approved 15 lakh doses of Zydus Cadila vaccine in the last four months, but the company is unable to obtain a No Objection Certificate (NOC) from DCGI.”
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News18.com reported on the issue in April, when there were 8.5 lakh clear doses. Awaiting DCGI’s approval,
So far, the market has received the first and only rollout of 2.37 lakh doses of ZyCoV-D.
News18 reached out for official comment via email, but did not receive a response at the time of publication.
The latest supplements are the company’s newly commissioned state-of-the-art Zydus Vaccine. were manufactured in technology Center of Excellence at Zydus Biotech Park in Ahmedabad.
As per protocol, a no-objection certificate from DCGI is required for the first rollout of substances from the new facility.
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