By PTI
NEW DELHI: An expert panel of India’s Central Drug Authority has recommended granting emergency use authorisation to Bharat Biotech’s Covaxin for children in the 2 to 18 years age group with certain conditions, sources said on Tuesday.
Hyderabad-based Bharat Biotech, which completed the phase 2/3 trials of Covid vaccine Covaxin for use in children aged between 2 and 18 years, had submitted the data to the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO) for its verification and subsequent approval for emergency use authorisation (EUA) for the jab in the beginning of this month.
The Subject Expert Committee (SEC) on COVID-19 examined the data and deliberated on the EUA application on Monday.
ALSO READ: India logs 14,313 fresh Covid-19 cases in last 24 hours; lowest since March
“After detailed deliberation, the committee recommended grant of market authorisation of the vaccine for the age group of 2 to 18 years for restricted use in emergency situations subject to the certain conditions,” a source quoted SEC as having stated in its recommendations.
The recommendations have been forwarded to the Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) for final approval.
It issaid that in the last 24 hours, 65,86,092 COVID-19 vaccine doses have been administered. India’s COVID-19 vaccination coverage exceeded 95.89 crores, informed the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare on Tuesday.
As per provisional reports, till 7 am today, 95,89,78,049 vaccine doses have been administered so far through 93,66,392 sessions.
ALSO READ | WHO panel recommends Covid vaccine booster shot for people with weak immunity
Of the total, 1,03,75,424 health care workers received the first dose and 90,36,583 second vaccine doses; 1,83,59,259 front line workers were administered the first dose and 1,53,98,857 vaccine doses given as the second dose to front line workers.
According to the health ministry, 38,68,20,261 vaccine doses were administered as the first dose and 10,40,73,546 vaccine doses were given as the second dose in the age group 18-44 years.
Also, in the age group of 45-59 years, 16,61,56,424 people have received the first dose and 8,38,76,362 have received the second dose whereas 10,48,69,202 vaccine doses were administered as first dose and 6,00,12,131 vaccine doses given as the second dose to the people over 60 years.
Meanwhile, 14,313 new cases were reported in the last 24 hours, which is the lowest recorded daily new cases in 224 days.
The recovery of 26,579 patients in the last 24 hours has increased the cumulative tally of recovered patients to 3,33,20,057.
