SII’s Covovax gets DCGI emergency use nod for children between 7-12 years

By Shalini Bhardwaj
New Delhi [India], June 28 (ANI): The Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) has given restricted emergency use authorisation (EUA) to Pune-based Serum Institute of India’s COVID-19 vaccine ‘Covovax’ for children aged 7 to 12 years, sources told ANI.
Earlier, DCGI’s Subject Expert Committee (SEC) recommended emergency use authorisation for Covovax for children aged 7 to 11 years.
The government panel meeting held in April had sought more data from Serum Institute of India (SII) after an application was filed by the company seeking the emergency use authorisation for Covovax for 7 to 11 years.
After SEC’s recommendation, DCGI reviewed the recommendation and has given restricted emergency use authorisation.
Earlier, DCGI had given restricted emergency approval to Covovax for children between 12 to 17 years under certain conditions.
In May on the basis of the provision made on CoWIN portal, SII’s Covovax vaccine got available for children of the age group 12 to 17 years. The time span between the first and second dose of Covovax is 21 days.
The DCGI has already approved restricted emergency approval for Biological E’s Corbevax for 5 to 12 years and Bharat Biotech’s Covaxin for 6-12 yrs old children but approval by NTAGI is still pending. (ANI)