According to official sources, Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya has reportedly approved the inclusion of Serum Institute's Covovax on the CoWIN portal as a heterologous booster dose for adults, in light of the increasing cases of COVID-19 in various parts of the country, PTI reported.
- Covovax is expected to be available on the portal in a few days, with a price of ₹225 per dose plus applicable GST.
According to official sources, Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya has reportedly approved the inclusion of Serum Institute's Covovax on the CoWIN portal as a heterologous booster dose for adults, in light of the increasing cases of COVID-19 in various parts of the country, PTI reported.
Covovax is expected to be available on the portal in a few days, with a price of ₹225 per dose plus applicable GST.
The move comes after a letter was written by Prakash Kumar Singh, Director, Serum Institute of India (SII) to the Union health ministry on March 27, the sources said.
As per an official source, Singh had reportedly stated in his letter to the ministry that Covovax, which has been approved by DCGI, WHO, and USFDA, is a world-class vaccine. He further advocated for its inclusion on the CoWIN portal as a heterologous booster dose for adults.
Covovax can be administered to those who have already been vaccinated with Covishield or Covaxin.
The COVID-19 Working Group, led by Dr. N.K. Arora, had reportedly recommended to the Health Ministry last month that Covovax be included on the CoWIN portal as a heterologous booster dose for adults who have already received two doses of either Covishield or Covaxin.
Covovax received market authorization from the Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) on January 16. This approval allows for the administration of Covovax as a booster dose for individuals who have already received two doses of either Covishield or Covaxin. Additionally, Covovax has also been approved by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), USA.
The DCGI had approved Covovax for restricted use in emergency situations in adults on December 28, 2021, in the 12-17 age group on March 9 and also in children aged 7- 11 years on 28 June 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.
In August 2020, US-based vaccine maker Novavax Inc. announced a licence agreement with the SII for the development and commercialisation of NVX-CoV2373, its COVID-19 vaccine candidate in India and low-and-middle-income countries.