Nod for Biological E's Corbevax for 5-12 age group
The approval comes a month after Corbevax received nod for children between 12 and 15 years
Mahima Datla
Vaccination at a glance
• Getting kids vaccinated will also help ease parents' concerns while sending them to school
• Vaccination of frontline workers started from February 2 last year
• CORBEVAX is the first indigenous Covid-19 vaccine in the country that addresses the vaccination needs of all age groups from 5 years and above
Hyderabad: The approval comes a month after Corbevax received nod for children between 12 and 15 years
New Delhi Biological E on Tuesday said the approval for its vaccine Corbevax for children in the 5-12 years age group will help in bringing normalcy in the fight against the Covid-19 pandemic.
The Hyderabad-based company has received emergency use authorisation for the 5-12-year age group from the Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) for its Covid-19 vaccine Corbevax. The approval comes after the Subject Expert Committee (SEC) recommendation based on the review of interim safety and immunogenicity data of Corbevax for this age bracket.
The approval comes a month after Corbevax received nod for children between 12 and 15 years. "This is a great opportunity to get back to some level of normalcy in our continuing fight against the prevalent pandemic situation as CORBEVAX is the first indigenous Covid-19 vaccine in the country that addresses the vaccination needs of all age groups from 5 years and above," Biological E Managing Director Mahima Datla said in a statement.
The company said it has manufactured 30 crore doses of Corbevax and has already supplied nearly 10 crore doses to the Union Government. So far, over 3 crore doses of the vaccine have been administered in children between 12-15 years of age. With approval for the 5-12 years age group, this move will not only reduce the risks children face from the infectious disease, but will also enable them to concentrate on their education and social development, which were severely impacted by the pandemic, the drug firm said.
Getting kids vaccinated will also help ease parents' concerns while sending them to school, it added. India began inoculating children aged 12-14 years on March 16. The countrywide vaccination drive started on January 16 last year with healthcare workers getting inoculated in the first phase.
Vaccination of frontline workers started from February 2 last year. The next phase of Covid-19 vaccination commenced on March 1 last year for people over 60 years of age and for those aged 45 years and above with specified co-morbid conditions. India launched vaccination for all people aged more than 45 years from April 1 last year. The government then decided to expand its vaccination drive by allowing everyone above 18 years of age to be inoculated against the viral disease from May 1 last year. The next phase of vaccination commenced on January 3 for adolescents in the age group of 15-18 years.
The country began administering precaution doses of vaccines to healthcare and frontline workers and those aged 60 years and above with co-morbidities from January 10. Precaution doses of the vaccines to all aged above 18 years were allowed at private vaccination centres from April 10.
