New Delhi: A day after the Zycov D vaccine was granted emergency use authorisation by India, manufacturer Zydus Cadila has claimed that its Covid-19 vaccine has shown an efficacy of 66 per cent against the Delta variant of the coronavirus.
“The efficacy against the delta variant as seen in the trials is 66%. We have not seen breakthrough infections by any other variant. Our trials are still not complete so I would say we are about 4-6 months away from the submission of data for the full phase III trial data. The approval is based on the interim efficacy data for phase III,” Zydus Cadila Managing Director Dr Sharvil Patel said at a virtual press conference Saturday.
Data available both with the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) and INSACOG indicate that most of the breakthrough infections in India are happening because of the Delta variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus.
The Indian SARS-CoV-2 Consortium on Genomics or INSACOG is a pan-India network of laboratories to monitor genomic variations in the novel coronavirus.
Zydus Cadila is currently looking at a manufacturing capacity of 10-12 crore doses every year even as talks are on with companies for manufacturing and technology transfer to some foreign countries.
Zycov D is the world’s first plasmid DNA vaccine against Covid-19 and is currently the only one in the country approved for use in the 12-18 years age group.
It is a three dose vaccine — to be administered on day 0, day 28 and day 56. The company is also working on a two-dose option.
“Children and (their) parents want them to go back to school, so we will focus on making maximum doses available to them though adults who want to take it can also do so,” Patel said.
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No clarity on pricing
Dr Patel said that the company has not yet finalised the price of the vaccine and will do so in consultation with the regulator and the government. It could take another 1-2 weeks before there is clarity.
“We have 3-5 million doses as we speak and this will go through the testing process. If everything goes as well as planned, we can see initial doses start to be delivered by the middle of September or the end of September,” he said.
The government had projected an availability of 5 crore doses of the vaccine by August.
Patel said that the company is looking at a total production of 3-5 crore doses “if not by the end of the year but by January”.
As to whether children with comorbidities will be prioritised, Dr Patel said there is no clarity on this yet, but said that children have been found to have far higher antibody titers (concentration) compared to the adult population.
“Both in the adult and children, we have not found any serious adverse events in the vaccine arm. This is because the vaccine is not related to any vector activity,” Patel said.
(Edited by Manasa Mohan)
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