60 Lakh Doses Of Zydus Cadila’s COVID Vaccine Ready After Production In October: Report

New Delhi: 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.

Also Read: Zydus Cadila’s COVID Vaccine To Be Inoculated Through An Applicator: Dr VK Paul

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.

Also Read: Expert Panel Recommends COVID Vaccine Covaxin In 2-18 Age Group

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

NDTV – Dettol have been working towards a clean and healthy India since 2014 via Banega Swachh India initiative, which is helmed by Campaign Ambassador Amitabh Bachchan. The campaign aims to highlight the inter-dependency of humans and the environment, and of humans on one another with the focus on One Health, One Planet, One Future – Leaving No One Behind. It stresses on the need to take care of, and consider, everyone’s health in India – especially vulnerable communities – the LGBTQ population, indigenous people, India’s different tribes, ethnic and linguistic minorities, people with disabilities, migrants, geographically remote populations, gender and sexual minorities. In wake of the current COVID-19 pandemic, the need for WASH (Water, Sanitation and Hygiene) is reaffirmed as handwashing is one of the ways to prevent Coronavirus infection and other diseases. The campaign will continue to raise awareness on the same along with focussing on the importance of nutrition and healthcare for women and children, fight malnutrition, mental wellbeing, self care, science and health, adolescent health & gender awareness. Along with the health of people, the campaign has realised the need to also take care of the health of the eco-system. Our environment is fragile due to human activity,  that is not only over-exploiting available resources, but also generating immense pollution as a result of using and extracting those resources. The imbalance has also led to immense biodiversity loss that has caused one of the biggest threats to human survival – climate change. It has now been described as a “code red for humanity.” The campaign will continue to cover issues like air pollution, waste management, plastic ban, manual scavenging and sanitation workers and menstrual hygiene. Banega Swasth India will also be taking forward the dream of Swasth Bharat, the campaign feels that only a Swachh or clean India where toilets are used and open defecation free (ODF) status achieved as part of the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2014, can eradicate diseases like diahorrea and the country can become a Swasth or healthy India.