India became the first country in the world to administer DNA vaccine against coronavirus. It comes as the country recorded of 1,03,921 cases in the active coronavirus caseload in a span of 24 hours.
According to Union health ministry data, the national COVID-19 recovery rate has increased to 95.64 per cent. While the earlier this year, the Indian government approved emergency use authorisation for Zydus Cadila’s DNA vaccine earlier this year, mentioning initial results from Phase III clinical trials that showed approximately 66 percent efficacy for symptomatic cases.
#𝐂𝐎𝐕𝐈𝐃𝟏𝟗 𝐕𝐚𝐜𝐜𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐔𝐏𝐃𝐀𝐓𝐄
➡️ More than 167.47 Cr vaccine doses provided to States/UTs.
➡️ More than 11.83 Cr doses still available with States/UTs to be administered.https://t.co/FZClDrmDa0 pic.twitter.com/HWFeyXINsD
— Ministry of Health (@MoHFW_INDIA) February 6, 2022
The ZyCoV-D, the world’s first plasmid DNA vaccine, was developed by Zydus Cadila a Ahmedabad-based vaccine manufacturer. However, the Drugs Controller General of India has given approval for the vaccination to be administered to children aged from 12 to 17. Like most of the coronavirus vaccines, which need two doses or even a single dose, ZyCoV-D is administered in three doses with a gap of 28 and 56 days from the first shot respectively.
Zydus Cadila’s vaccine, developed in partnership with the Department of Biotechnology, is the second home-grown covid19 vaccine to get emergency approval in India after Bharat Biotech’s Covaxin. Over 93 per cent of the adult population have received at least one dose of covid-19 while over 69.8 per cent have been fully vaccinated, according to health ministry officials.
Zydus receives EUA from DCGI for ZyCoV-D, the only needle-free COVID vaccine in the world. #Zydus #vaccine #zycovd #atmanirbharbharat #worldsfirstdnavaccine #dnavaccine #covid pic.twitter.com/UmYUpPymx0
— Zydus Cadila (@ZydusUniverse) August 20, 2021
“As a result of the country’s solidarity and Prime Minister Narendra Modi ji’s commitment during the Corona crisis that the country not only manufactured a vaccine but also inoculated a large part of the population in a very short time. This one year of vaccination campaign shows India’s resolve,” said Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya.
With health workers going door-to-door to administer shots, Indian officials are carrying out a vaccination drive in remote parts of the country.