Centre likely to roll out 1 crore doses of Zydus Cadila's COVID-19 vaccine ZyCoVD by October - All you need to know

To ramp up the vaccination drive in India further, the Central government is likely to roll out Zydus Cadila's COVID-19 vaccine, ZyCoVD, by the end of next month (October). According to a report in News 18, 1 crore doses of the DNA vaccine are expected to be made available by the end of October. ZyCoVD can be administered to youngsters between 12 and 17 years of age. 

A senior government official was quoted as saying, "We are waiting for guidelines from the panel of experts on vaccination for kids and adolescents. Once they release the guidelines, we can open up vaccination drive for youngsters as well." 

The government official also added that the Centre is planning to not only increase the production of available vaccines in the coming months but is also planning to roll out several new vaccines in India. 

In other news, on PM Narendra Modi's 71st birthday, India set a new record for single-day vaccinations and administered over 2 crore COVID-19 vaccine doses. As per the COWIN portal, 2,02,74,365 vaccine doses had been administered till 5:19 pm.

Taking to Twitter, Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya said that the historic feat is a gift to PM Modi on behalf of the health workers and the countrymen.

The vaccination drive in the country began on January 16, 2021, with the inoculation of healthcare and frontline workers. As of now, India is administering COVID-19 vaccines - Covishield of Serum Institute of India (SII), Bharat Biotech's Covaxin, and Sputnik V.

It was on August 9 that India's COVID-19 vaccination coverage crossed the landmark of 50 crores.