COVID-19 Vaccine Update: Zydus Cadila supplies first batch of ZyCoV-D to Centre

In November 2021, the drug firm had said that it had received an order to supply one crore doses of its coronavirus vaccine to the government at Rs 265 per dose

Moneycontrol News

February 02, 2022 / 12:25 IST

File image of ZyCov-D vaccine (Source: Twitter)

Ahmedabad-based Zydus Cadila on Wednesday said that it has started supplies of its COVID-19 vaccine ZyCoV-D to the government. The company has initiated the supply as per the order placed by the government, the drug firm said in a statement. The pharma major also plans to make it available in the market, it added.

ZyCoV-D is a three-dose vaccine administered intradermally using the painless pharmajet needle-free system on day 0, day 28 and day 56.

It is a plasmid DNA vaccine which, when administered, produces the spike protein of the SARS-CoV-2 virus and elicits an immune response mediated by the cellular and humoral arms of the human immune system, which play a vital role in protection from disease as well as viral clearance, claimed the company.

Zydus Cadila in its data submitted to the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation had said that the vaccine showed an efficacy of 66.6 percent against symptomatic COVID-19 infection. It was later granted emergency use authorisation for the age group of 12 years and above in August but had thus far not been included in India’s COVID immunisation drive.

The vaccine is now being priced at Rs 265 per dose and while the applicator is being offered at Rs 93 per dose, excluding GST.

COVID-19 Vaccine

Frequently Asked Questions

How does a vaccine work?

A vaccine works by mimicking a natural infection. A vaccine not only induces immune response to protect people from any future COVID-19 infection, but also helps quickly build herd immunity to put an end to the pandemic. Herd immunity occurs when a sufficient percentage of a population becomes immune to a disease, making the spread of disease from person to person unlikely. The good news is that SARS-CoV-2 virus has been fairly stable, which increases the viability of a vaccine.

How many types of vaccines are there?

There are broadly four types of vaccine — one, a vaccine based on the whole virus (this could be either inactivated, or an attenuated [weakened] virus vaccine); two, a non-replicating viral vector vaccine that uses a benign virus as vector that carries the antigen of SARS-CoV; three, nucleic-acid vaccines that have genetic material like DNA and RNA of antigens like spike protein given to a person, helping human cells decode genetic material and produce the vaccine; and four, protein subunit vaccine wherein the recombinant proteins of SARS-COV-2 along with an adjuvant (booster) is given as a vaccine.

What does it take to develop a vaccine of this kind?

Vaccine development is a long, complex process. Unlike drugs that are given to people with a diseased, vaccines are given to healthy people and also vulnerable sections such as children, pregnant women and the elderly. So rigorous tests are compulsory. History says that the fastest time it took to develop a vaccine is five years, but it usually takes double or sometimes triple that time.

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