New Delhi: The ZyCOV-D, the world's first and India's indigenously developed DNA-based vaccine for COVID-19, will be available from mid-September.

The vaccine is to be administered in humans, including children above 12 years of age and adults.

Dr. Sharvil Patel, MD, Zydus Group, said, "Next week will have clarity on the price of the ZyCOV-D vaccine. The supply of vaccines will start in mid-September. We can scale up production of vaccines to 1 crore a month from October at the new production plant".

According to Zydus Group, "This is for the first time that a technologically advanced vaccine has been successfully developed on the Plasmid DNA platform for human use. The platform because of its rapid plug and play technology can be easily adapted to deal with mutations in the virus, such as those already occurring. The company plans to manufacture 10-12 crore doses of ZyCoV-D annually".

Read: DNA based ZyCov-D gets emergency use nod, PM Modi calls it ‘a momentous feat’

The Drug Controller General of India (DCGI) has given Emergency Use Authorisation (EUA) to Cadila Healthcare (Zydus Cadila) for ZyCoV-D.

The vaccine has an efficacy of 66.6 per cent, and it is to be stored at 2°C to 8°C. The vaccine is needle-free to be administered intradermally in three doses at days 0, 28 and 56.

Facts about ZyCoV-D by Zydus Group:
• ZyCoV-D is an intradermal vaccine, which will be administered in three doses.
• It will be applied using The PharmaJet® needle free system, Tropis®, which can also
lead to a significant reduction in any kind of side effects.
• ZyCoV-D is stored at 2-8 degree C but has shown good stability at temperatures of 25
degree C for at least three months. The thermostability of the vaccine will help in easy
transportation and storage of the vaccine and reduce any cold chain breakdown
challenges leading to vaccine wastage.
• The plasmid DNA platform provides ease of manufacturing with minimal biosafety
requirements (BSL-1).
• Also being a Plasmid DNA vaccine, ZyCoV-D doesn’t have any problem associated
with vector based immunity.
• The Plasmid DNA platform also allows generating new constructs quickly to deal with
mutations in the virus, such as those already occurring.
• The results of the Phase I part of the Phase I/II clinical trial have already been published
in the EClinical Medicine Journal of Lancet.