Indian vaccine manufacturer Biological E. Ltd. announced on Monday its COVID-19 vaccine had received emergency approval for use in children between the ages of 12 and 18.
So far, India has only started immunizing children over the age of 15. Approximately 76 million children between 15 and 17 have been inoculated primarily with Covaxin, according to government figures.
The company’s Corbevax vaccine is the third in India to be approved for use in children aged 12 and above, following Zydus Cadila’s DNA vaccine ZyCoV-D and the locally developed Covaxin vaccine from Bharat Biotech.
In an emailed statement, Biological E. said the emergency use approval of Corbevax for restricted use in the 12-18 age group is based on interim results from an ongoing mid- to late-stage clinical study.
The national immunization program has not yet included Corbevax in its schedule of vaccines. In late December, it was given emergency use approval for adults.
COVID-19’s third wave of cases caused by the Omicron coronavirus variant appears to be subsiding. According to the government of India, 16,051 infections were reported on Monday, compared with more than 300,000 in late January.
The Indian vaccination programme have been used approximately 1.76 billion vaccine doses so far, of which approximately 84% were the Indian version of AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine produced by the Serum Institute of India.
