COVID vaccine: NTAGI holds meeting on Covovax inclusion as heterologous booster for adults on CoWin portal

Written by Ruchika Sharma Published On 2023-02-10T14:54:54+05:30 | Updated On 14 Feb 2024 12:54 AM IST

COVID vaccine: NTAGI holds meeting on Covovax inclusion as heterologous booster for adults on CoWin portal

New Delhi: National Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation conducted a meeting on February 8 regarding the inclusion of Covid-19 vaccine Covovax as a heterologous booster dose for adults on the CoWin portal to boost uptake of the doses, sources said on Thursday.

In the month January, the Serum Institute of India (SII) also wrote a letter to the Union Health Ministry seeking the inclusion of its Covid vaccine Covovax on the CoWIN portal.

On January 16, the Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) approved market authorisation for the Serum Institute of India (SII) COVID jab Covovax as a heterologous booster dose.

Earlier, DCGI had approved Covovax for restricted use in emergency situations in adults on December 28, 2021, for ages between 12-17 on March 9, 2022, and also for children who come under 7- 11 years on June 28, 2022, subject to certain conditions.

Covovax is manufactured through technology transfer from Novavax. It has been approved by the European Medicines Agency for conditional marketing authorization. It was granted an emergency-use listing by the World Health Organization (WHO) on December 17, 2021.

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Recently, Bharat Biotech's nasal Covid vaccine for adults above 18 years old had been launched by the Government of India and its batches were also released.

The vaccine is available in private hospitals.

iNCOVACC is the world's first Intranasal Vaccine to receive both Primary series and Heterologous booster approval.

COVID-19 disease is caused by a coronavirus called SARS-CoV-2. It is predominantly a respiratory illness that can affect other organs. People with COVID-19 have had a wide range of symptoms reported, ranging from mild symptoms to severe illness. Symptoms may appear 2 to 14 days after exposure to the virus. Symptoms may include: fever or chills; cough; shortness of breath; fatigue; muscle or body aches; headache; new loss of taste or smell; sore throat; congestion or runny nose; nausea or vomiting; diarrhea.

National Technical Advisory Group on ImmunisationCOVID 19coronaviruscoronavirus vaccineCovovaxCoWinserum institute of indiaserum institute of india newsNTAGINovavaxSII

Source : with inputs

Ruchika Sharma

Ruchika Sharma joined Medical Dialogue as an Correspondent for the Business Section in 2019. She covers all the updates in the Pharmaceutical field, Policy, Insurance, Business Healthcare, Medical News, Health News, Pharma News, Healthcare and Investment. She has completed her B.Com from Delhi University and then pursued postgraduation in M.Com. She can be contacted at editorial@medicaldialogues.in Contact no. 011-43720751