A COVID booster vaccine based on Omicron-specific mRNA was launched on Saturday by Union Minister Jitendra Singh. According to a statement, Gennova developed India's first mRNA vaccine, GEMCOVAC-OM, with support from the Department of Biotechnology (DBT) and the Biotechnology Industry Research Assistance Council (BIRAC).
The Drug Control General of India (DCGI) approved this vaccine for Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) a few days ago.
The fifth vaccine, GEMCOVAC-OM, was developed with assistance from Mission COVID Suraksha, which was carried out by DBT and BIRAC as part of Atmanirbhar Bharat 3.0, the government's package to accelerate the development of COVID-19 vaccines.
“Within a year of implementation, the Mission Covid Suraksha demonstrated major achievements, such as (i) Development of the World’s first DNA Vaccine for COVID-19, and (ii) Supporting the development of the nation’s first mRNA Vaccine and intranasal vaccine candidates and a subunit vaccine against COVID-19," the minister said.
According to Singh, this "future-ready" technology platform can be utilised to produce additional vaccines in a shorter amount of time.
Because it is a vaccine that is thermostable, GEMCOVAC-OM does not require the ultra-cold chain infrastructure that is utilized by other approved mRNA-based vaccines.
"This innovation makes it easy for last mile deployment in our country. The existing supply chain infrastructure is sufficient to deploy this vaccine," said Singh, adding, "Its unique feature is that this vaccine can be administered without a needle injection."
The statement stated that the vaccine generated significantly higher immune responses in study participants and is administered intradermally using a needle-free injection device system.
It stated that in order to achieve the desired immune response, variant-specific vaccines are required based on the clinical outcome.
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