New Delhi: Union minister Jitendra Singh on Saturday (June 24) launched an Omicron-specific mRNA-based booster vaccine for Covid. GEMCOVAC-OM is India’s first mRNA vaccine developed using the indigenous platform technology by Gennova, with funding support from Department of Biotechnology (DBT) and Biotechnology Industry Research Assistance Council (BIRAC), a statement said.
A few days ago, this vaccine got the nod from the office of the Drug Control General of India (DCGI) for Emergency Use Authorization (EUA).
GEMCOVAC-OM is the fifth vaccine developed with support from Mission COVID Suraksha implemented by DBT and BIRAC under Atmanirbhar Bharat 3.0 package of the government for accelerated development of COVID-19 vaccines.
Minister Singh said this ‘future-ready’ technology platform can be used to make other vaccines in a relatively shorter time.
GEMCOVAC-OM is a thermostable vaccine and does not require ultra-cold chain infrastructure used for other approved mRNA-based vaccines. The minister sing said,
This innovation makes it easy for last mile deployment in our country. The existing supply chain infrastructure is sufficient to deploy this vaccine
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Further statement said,
Its unique feature is that this vaccine can be administered without a needle injection. The vaccine is delivered intra-dermally using a needle-free injection device system and in study participants it generated significantly higher immune responses
The clinical outcome demonstrates the need for variant-specific vaccines for desired immune response, it said.
(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
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