Bharat Biotech has received approval from an expert panel to administer the COVID-19 vaccine- Covaxin to children under the age of 18 after completing Phase 2/3 trials last week.
The Drug Controller General of India will issue final approval for the use of Covaxin on children.
After DCGI's approval, Covaxin will be the only vaccine approved for use on children. Zydus Cadila's three-dose DNA jab was approved for use on adults and children over the age of
12 in August.
The Serum Institute's Novavax vaccine is a third potential vaccine for children, and the DCGI approved trials for kids aged seven to eleven years old last month.
The Hyderabad based Bharat Biotech announced last week that it has submitted all required data for vaccine trials on children aged two to eighteen.
After administering approximately 96 crore doses to adults, India is now focusing on vaccinating children against the coronavirus.
According to an AIIMS professor, the safety and immunogenicity of India's Covid-19 vaccine Covaxin are remarkably similar in children and adults over the age of 18.
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The vaccine candidate for children- Covaxin was tested on three different age groups. “The first group examined was between the ages of 12 and 18, the second group was between the
ages of 6 and 12, and the third group was between the ages of 2 and 6.”
It is worth noting that several doctors and health experts believe SARS-CoV-2 is not fatal in children.
"There is only a mild infection present. It is milder than the ordinary cold in a few children. We currently lack evidence to determine whether of Zydus Cadila, Bharat Biotech, Pfizer
or Moderna is the mildest. The severity of the infection is reduced by these vaccines, but not the infection itself," says Dr Sanjay K Rai, a professor at the Centre for Community Medicine, All India Institute of Medical
Sciences (AIIMS).