Drug regulators in India have approved the world’s first DNA vaccine against Covid-19 for emergency use, according to the BBC.
Vaccine maker Cadila Healthcare said an interim study indicated that the three-dose ZyCoV-D vaccine prevented symptomatic disease in 66% of those vaccinated. The key third phase of clinical trials was conducted at the peak of the deadly second wave of the virus. The vaccine maker is reported as saying it believes this reaffirmed the jab’s ‘efficacy against the mutant strains’, especially the highly infectious Delta variant.
Cadila Healthcare planned to make up to 120 million doses of India’s second home-grown vaccine every year.
The BBC reports that previous DNA vaccines have worked well in animals but not humans.
Cadila Healthcare said it had conducted the largest clinical trial for the vaccine in India so far, involving 28 000 volunteers in more than 50 centres.
India has so far given more than 570 million doses of three previously approved vaccines – Covishield, Covaxin and Sputnik V.
According to the BBC, about 13% of adults have been fully vaccinated and 47% have received at least one shot since the beginning of the drive in January.
[Photo: Ajit Solanki/AP Photo]