DGCI Nods for Emergency Use of Corbevax, Covovax COVID-19 Vaccines Amid Omicron Scare

Corbevax and Covovax COVID-19 Vaccines

Corbevax is an indigenous RBD protein sub-unit vaccine for COVID-19 developed by Biological-E in Hyderabad. On the other hand, Covovax is a nanoparticle vaccine that will be manufactured by the Serum Institute of India (SII) in Pune.

It is the second COVID-19 vaccine to be developed by SII after Covishield. While Corbevax will be administered in two doses of 0.5 ml each with a gap of 28 days, Covovax will be given 21 days apart. Both vaccines can be easily stored between a temperature of 2 to 8 degrees.

With Corbevax and Covovax getting the nod, a total of eight COVID-19 vaccines have been authorized for use in India, including Covaxin, Covisield, Sputnik V, Moderna, ZyCoV-D and Johnson & Johnson.

Molnupiravir Anti-viral Pill Against COVID-19

The anti-viral drug Molnupiravir, developed by US-based companies Merck and Ridgeback, will be manufactured by 13 companies in India. As per the clinical trial results, the drug has reduced hospitalization and deaths due to COVID-19 by 30 per cent.

The drug was first used to treat COVID-19 in Britain in November and has been recently allowed for treating mild-to-moderate coronavirus cases by the US Food and Drug Administration.