'ZyCoV-D' vaccine 66% efficient against Covid Delta variant: Zydus Group MD
Shortly after Zydus Cadila's 3-dose vaccine 'ZyCoV-D' got approval for emergency use in India, Zydus Group MD Dr. Sharvil Patel has claimed that the vaccine holds about 66% efficacy against the Delta variant of COVID-19. "The efficacy of our COVID19 vaccine is over 66%, and its efficacy against the Delta variant is about 66%", he said.
Patel also spoke about the pricing and supply of the DNA based vaccine. He said, "Next week will have clarity on the price of the ZyCOV-D vaccine. The supply of vaccines will start in mid-September".
The Ahmedabad-based company has targeted plans to manufacture 10-12 crore doses of ZyCoV-D annually. Patel assured that the production of vaccines can be scaled up to to 1 crore a month from October at the new production plant.
The Phase-III clinical trials were conducted in over 28,000 volunteers. This has been the largest vaccine trial so far in India for Covid-19. The interim results of the trials showed primary efficacy of 66.6 percent for symptomatic RT-PCR positive cases.
When infected, the 3-dose vaccine produces the spike protein of the SARS-CoV2 virus and elicits an immune response, which plays a pivotal role in protection from disease as well as virus clearance. The plug-and-play technology on which the plasmid DNA platform is based can be easily adapted to deal with mutations with the virus.
Children above the age of 12 can be innoculated with 'ZyCoV-D' vaccine. For the first time, apart from adults, adolescents in the age group of 12-18 years will get the vaccine shot in India. So far, only those who are 18 or above were eligible for vaccination against coronavirus.
