60 lakh vaccine doses of ZyCoV-D are ready after production in October: Sources

As many as 60 lakh doses of Zydus Cadila’s three-dose COVID-19 vaccine ZyCoV-D are ready after production, said government sources.

The Ahmedabad-based pharma company had received emergency use authorisation from the Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) on August 20.

ZyCoV-D, a needle-free coronavirus vaccine, is the world’s first plasmid DNA vaccine for COVID-19.It is a three-dose vaccine that will be administered on day zero, day 28, and day 56.

Meanwhile, government sources also told ANI that India will have a vaccine capacity of 28 crore doses in October. Of these, 22 crore doses will be of Serum Institute of India’s Covishield and six crores will be of Bharat Biotech’s Covaxin.

India had procured more than 26 crore doses in September. “India may also start commercial export of COVID-19 vaccine doses in the fourth quarter of the year after having enough number of doses for the country,” sources said. Centre plans to achieve cumulative vaccination coverage of 100 crore doses around October 18. Earlier, the government was expected to reach the target between October 10 to 12.

The Union Health Ministry is planning to celebrate the day with events across the country that involve COVID warriors and healthcare workers, who played an important role in vaccination.

“Once we hit 100 crore dose, we are planning celebration across the country with COVID warriors, frontline workers and healthcare workers,” said sources. India had achieved administering 2.5 crore vaccine doses in a single day on September 17. (ANI)