Vaccines for children; DCGI approves restricted emergency use for these

NEW DELHI: The Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) has given restricted emergency use authorization to India’s indigenously developed Covaxin for children between the age of six to twelve years. The DCGI had earlier granted permission to use Bharat Biotech’s Covaxin on those aged above 12 years, last year.

The company has been asked to submit safety data, including information on the possible health problems for some children, aged between six and 12, when they are vaccinated. The data has to be submitted once in every 15 days, during the first two months of vaccine distribution. Following which, it should be submitted after an accurate analysis once in every 30 days for the next five months.

Lately, the Subject Expert Committee (SEC) of the DCGI had asked Bharat Biotech for additional data on its Covid-19 vaccine for administering it to children aged between two and 12 years, following which the approval was granted. In addition, DCGI have also approved the emergency use of Biological E Limited’s Corbevax vaccine in children aged between five to 12 years and Cadila Health's ZyCoV-D for those aged above 12 years.