Government panels suggest emergency use authorization to Covovax for these age groups

Digital Desk: Serum Institute of India's (SII) covid-19 vaccine 'Covovax' has been recommended by the Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) for emergency use for the age group of 7-11 years, official sources said. 

The sources stated that the DCGI panel "recommends giving emergency use authorization to Serum Institute's Covovax for children aged 7 to 11 years." It is the fourth vaccine the regulator has approved for use in individuals under 18. 

On March 16, Prakash Kumar Singh, director  (government and regulatory affairs) at SII, applied for an emergency use authorization. At its most recent meeting in April, the expert panel asked the Pune-based company for more information regarding the application. 

The DCGI approved Covovax for limited use in emergency cases for adults on December 28 and for 12 to 17 years on March 9, subject to specified restrictions.

On March 16, the nation began immunizing kids between the ages of 12 and 14. Healthcare workers received vaccinations as part of the initial phase of the nationwide vaccination campaign, which began on January 16 last year. Frontline employees began receiving vaccinations on February 2 last year.

According to research in the Lancet magazine, the covid-19 vaccination effort in India stopped more than 42 lakh deaths in 2021. The study's findings are based on calculations of "excess" mortalities that occurred in the nation during the pandemic.

The latest projection published in the Lancet journal suggests that the covid-19 immunization may have contributed to lowering the number of deaths to almost a third of what they would have been globally, including roughly 2.7 million to 5.3 million in India.

"Without a covid-19 vaccine, 31.4 million covid-19-related deaths would have happened during this period throughout 185 nations and territories. The covid-19 vaccine prevented around 19.8 million deaths, "the study claimed.