About 1 Crore Doses of SII's Covovax Cleared by Govt Lab for Public Use, Testing of Bio E's Corbevax to Begin

Nearly one crore doses of the newly approved Covid-19 vaccine, Covovax, have been dispatched after the final round of quality and safety checks at the Central Drugs Laboratory (CDL), News18.com has learnt. Expanding India’s vaccine basket, the Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) on December 28 had approved the Serum Institute’s Covovax and Biological E’s Corbevax.

A batch of more than 50 lakh doses of Corbevax has also been submitted for testing.

Approved by the CDL, the country’s apex vaccine-testing laboratory in Himachal Pradesh, Covovax can now be rolled out for public use.

Both Covovax and Corbevax are protein subunit vaccines. A jab injects the spike protein that teaches the body to develop antibodies against the novel coronavirus. While the spike protein injected is without the virus, the body uses the antibodies generated to fight the real virus when it looks to infect the person.

“Around 96 lakh doses of Serum Institute of India’s Covovax have been cleared by CDL,” said an official from the ministry of health and family welfare privy to the development. “Another batch of around 96 lakh doses is also with the CDL and undergoing testing. They will also be cleared soon. We have been informed that, similar to Covishield, these batches will now arrive regularly for testing.”

The batches of more than 50 lakh doses of Biological E’s Corbevax have also reached the laboratory for the final round of testing. “Corbevax was already being stockpiled. The lab has received batches of different dose sizes. The exact counting of doses is yet to be conducted. However, it will at least be around 50 lakh doses,” said the official.

There is no clarity yet if the government is planning to introduce Corbevax and Covovax into the inoculation drive, use the vaccines as boosters or as precautionary doses. The decision on the mixing of vaccines is likely to be taken within this week. “While the decision on mix and match remains pending, the government is in a comfortable position (on availability of vaccines) to kickstart boosters or open precautionary doses for another age group,” the official added.

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