Chennai: Indian vaccine maker Biological E Ltd’s Covid-19 vaccine Corbevax got emergency use approval in the country for use in children aged 12 to 18.
The Hyderabad-based pharmaceutical company said its coronavirus vaccine Corbevax, also India’s third homegrown vaccine, has received emergency use approval in India for use in children aged 12 to 18 years.
Till now India has been administering Bharat Biotech’s Covaxin to teens between 15 and 18 years old since January 3.
The EUA, short for emergency use authorisation, for Corbevax’s restricted use in emergency among adults was cleared by the regulator Drugs Controller General of India in December 2019.
‘BE received the approval for restricted use in an emergency situation in adolescents aged 12 to 18 years based on interim results (of the ongoing phase II/III clinical study),’ Biological E said in the statement.
The Serum Institute of India (SII) — makers of Covishield — has also sought regulatory nod for emergency use of Covovax in youngsters aged 12-17. Once SII gets the permission for Covovax, it will further improve the availability of jabs for kids and may prompt the government to lower the age limit for Covid vaccination to 12.
‘The @CDSCO_INDIA_INF has granted emergency use authorisation to Covid-19 vaccine #CORBEVAX for 12-18 year age group. It is 🇮🇳’s 1st indigenously developed Receptor Binding Domain Protein sub-unit vaccine against COVID-19. This will further strengthen our fight against #COVID19,’ Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya tweeted.
India is presently vaccinating children aged 15 and above. More than 76 million children between 15 and 17 have been vaccinated, as per government figures.
Dr NK Arora, Chairman, India’s Covid-19 Working group of National Technical Advisory Group on immunisation (NTAGI), had earlier said that Corbevax is safe and offers good immunogenicity and higher antibody levels than some other vector vaccines.
Corbevax is being billed as India’s first homegrown ‘receptor-binding domain protein sub-unit vaccine against Covid-19’. A receptor-binding domain is a key part of a virus located on its ‘spike’ domain that allows it to dock to body receptors to enter and infect cells. These are also the primary targets in the prevention and treatment of viral infections.