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Currently, population above 14 years of age is already being administered the vaccine under the ongoing vaccination programme. (File) SIGNALLING ANOTHER milestone in India’s Covid vaccination drive, the Centre on Monday said that the campaign will include children in the age group of 12-14 years from Wednesday — and that the country’s second indigenous vaccine, Corbevax, will be rolled out for the new group.
The move comes two months after the Union Health Ministry expanded the campaign to cover adolescents in the age group of 15-18 years, who were allocated Covaxin, the country’s first indigenous Covid vaccine.
In another significant decision on Monday, the Centre removed the comorbidity criterion for those above 60 years of age who are eligible for the precautionary third dose.
Developed by Hyderabad-based Biological E., Corbevax is a Receptor Binding Domain (RBD) Protein sub-unit vaccine, which is administered through the intramuscular route with two doses scheduled 28 days apart. It can be stored at 2-8 degrees Celsius, which is best suited for India’s requirements.
The vaccine is built on the traditional sub-unit platform, which triggers an immune response by using fragments, such as the spike protein, instead of the whole virus. It is widely considered to be one of the safest vaccine platforms.
Corbevax contains the harmless S-protein. Once the immune system recognises the protein, it produces antibodies as white blood cells to fight the infection.
The antigenic parts of the virus, which is used to trigger the immune response, has been developed by Texas Children’s Hospital Center for Vaccine Development and in-licensed from BCM Ventures, which is Baylor College of Medicine’s integrated commercialization team.
Globally, the USA and the UK have been administering Pfizer’s mRNA vaccine for children in the age group of five years and above.
Corbevax got emergency use authorisation (EUA) from India’s drug regulator on February 21 for the age group of 12-18 years. Biological E. had earlier announced that it would manufacture the vaccine at a rate of 75 million doses per month, anticipating 100-plus million doses per month from February 2022.
It was in June last year that the Union Health Ministry announced it would make an advance payment of Rs 1,500 crore to Biological E. to reserve 30 crore doses — marking the first time that the Centre had placed advance orders for a vaccine that was yet to be granted EUA at the time.
Last September, Biological E. received approval to conduct a Phase II/III clinical trial on Corbevax in children and adolescents aged 5-18 years. Based on the no-objection certificate, the company initiated clinical studies in October 2021.
According to the company, the late-stage clinical trials indicated that the vaccine is safe and immunogenic.
Overall, India’s Covid immunisation drive has administered 97.89 crore first doses and 81.37 crore second doses across all age groups since January last year.
In the 15-18 age group, 5.58 crore first doses have been administered, covering an estimated 75 per cent, and 3.38 crore second doses, covering 46 per cent, according to official data. The precautionary dose for those above 60 years of age has been administered to 2 crore people.
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