Zydus Cadila To Supply One Crore Doses Of Its COVID-19 Vaccine To Government At Rs. 265/Dose

New Delhi: Drug firm Zydus Cadila on Monday said it has received an order to supply one crore doses of its COVID-19 vaccine, ZyCoV-D, to the Indian government at Rs. 265 per dose. “Zydus Cadila has received an order to supply one crore doses of ZyCoV-D, the world’s first Plasmid DNA Vaccine, to the Government of India at Rs 265 per dose and the needle-free applicator being offered at Rs 93 per dose, excluding GST,” the pharma firm said in a regulatory filing.

The pricing has been decided in consultation with the central government, it added. The vaccine will be administered using a needle-free applicator as opposed to traditional syringes. The applicator, called “PharmaJet”.

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The PharmaJet is a needle free applicator to ensure painless intradermal vaccine delivery which also leads to a significant reduction in any kind of major side effects.

“We are happy to support the government’s vaccination programme with ZyCoV-D. The needle-free application of the vaccination, we hope, will motivate many more to vaccinate and safeguard themselves from COVID-19, especially children and young adults in the age group of 12 to 18 years,” Zydus Cadila MD Sharvil Patel said.

ZyCoV-D is the first DNA plasmid vaccine in the world for human use, developed indigenously by the company against the COVID-19 virus, Zydus Cadila said. The vaccine has shown good stability at temperatures of around 25 degrees for at least three months.

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The thermostability of the vaccine will help in easy transportation and storage of the vaccine without any problems of fluctuations in temperature, it added. ZyCoV-D is the first vaccine cleared by India’s drug regulator for inoculation of those aged 12 years and above. The three doses of ZyCoV-D, are to be administered 28 days apart. The vaccine was given emergency use authorization (EUA) by the Indian drug regulator on August 20, this year. The company has also sought approval for the two dose regimen of the vaccine.

(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.