ZyCoV-D COVID vaccine likely to be available in market by mid to end September: MD Sharvil Patel

The ZyCoV-D COVID-19 vaccine, which received emergency use authorisation from India's drug regulator on Friday, will be available in the market by mid to end September, Zydus Group Managing Director Sharvil Patel said on Saturday, adding that the price of the doses will be announced in the next one or two weeks. 

"Post the emergency use authorisation, now we will work closely with the regulatory authorities to work on the pricing and modality of delivery of the doses of our vaccine. In the next one or two weeks we will have better clarity on the pricing," Sharvil Patel said.

The Zydus Group MD, during a press conference, said, "The company hopes that by middle to end of September, we can start supplying the vaccines, and as I said we need to scale up to 1 crore doses and we believe by October we can achieve this. We believe by October we will start producing 1 crore doses and that would mean by end of Jan we can have 4 to 5 crore doses."

ZyCoV-D is the first indigenously developed needle-free three-dose COVID-19 vaccine to get emergency use authorisation (EUA) in India, it will also be the first vaccine to be administered to beneficiaries in the age group of 12-18 years. It is the sixth vaccine to get approved for use in India, after SII's Covishield, Bharat Biotech's Covaxin, Russia's Sputnik V, US's Moderna, and Johnson and Johnson.

Patel said that Zydus Group is also actively looking at ramping up the manufacture of vaccine, both domestically through partnership and outside India. 

"The company is also seeking approval for a two-dose regimen of the vaccine," he said.