Kids’ vaccine ZyCoV-D to be given to pvt hospitals too

Kids’ vaccine ZyCoV-D to be given to pvt hospitals too

25L Doses To Be Set Aside For Pvt Sector Initially: NTAGI Chief

Umesh.Isalkar@timesgroup.com

Pune:11.10.2021

ZyCoV-D, the first vaccine to be approved for use in children in the age group of 12-17 in India, will also be made available to private sector hospitals across the country. The Centre’s supply principle in the ratio of 75:25 for public and private vaccination will remain applicable for this vaccine as well. ZyCoV-D is going to be introduced in the country’s Covid vaccination programme by October 20.

“If there are buyers, up to 25 lakh doses of the ZyCoV-D would be made available to private sector hospitals every month as the initial monthly vaccine availability will be one crore doses,” NK Arora, chairman of the Centre’s Covid-19 working group of the National Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation (NTAGI) told TOI on Sunday.

The needle-free ZyCoV-D vaccine, manufactured by Zydus Cadila, has received emergency use authorisation for being administered to children between 12 and 17 years of age in India. The three-dose vaccine is to be given with a 28-day gap between each dose. “The biggest hurdle with this vaccine is its slow production. Initially, the manufacturer can only make available one crore doses every month,” Arora said.

He, however, added that the private sector had not shown much interest in vaccine purchases after the new guidelines about Covid-19 vaccine supply in the ratio of 75:25 came into effect. Sanjay Lalwani, medical director of Bharati Hospital in Pune, said: “It is a three-dose vaccine, hence the vaccination cost is likely to be high, which may negatively impact purchase in the private sector.”

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States, UTs given 96cr doses: Govt

Around 96 crore vaccine doses have been provided to states and UTs so far, the union health ministry said on Sunday. Around 8.3 crore balance and unutilised vaccine doses are still available with the states and UTs, it said. The vaccination drive has been ramped up through availability of more vaccines and advance visibility of vaccine availability to states and UTs. PTI