Everything you need to know about Zydus Cadila's ZyCov-D vaccine

Zydus Cadila on Thursday applied to the Drug Controller General of India for Emergency Use Authorisation of its Covid-19 vaccine - ZyCov-D.

ZyCov-D is India's first DNA vaccine, which has also done clinical trials on 1,000 children of 12-18 years of age.

Here's everything you need to know about the vaccine.

How the ZyCov-D vaccine works?

The ZyCoV-D vaccine is a plasmid DNA vaccine. A plasmid vaccine uses non-replicating DNA molecule. The vaccine encodes for a protein that originated from the pathogen which the vaccine will be targetted against. As per Zydus Cadila, the vaccine elicits an immune response mediated by the cellular and humoral arms of the human immune system, which play a vital role in protection from disease as well as viral clearance.

Also Read | Zydus Cadila applies for emergency-use nod from DCGI for its Covid-19 vaccine

The Plasmid DNA platform allows the vaccine to be changed to increase effectiveness against virus mutations.

This is the first ever three-dose vaccine instead of the standard two doses. The interval between all three doses will be 28 days.

How is it administered?

The vaccine is administered not through a standard needle, but is given via a spring powered device that penetrates the skin.

Efficacy of the vaccine

The ZyCov-D vaccine has completed phase 1, 2 and 3 of trials. The trial had been conducted on 28,000 individuals, of which 1,000 of them were children in 12-18 years age group. The result of the clinical trial showed 66 per cent efficacy. As per trial data, 67 per cent of the people did not test positive after taking the jab vs those who were not inoculated. Trial data also showed that while two doses prevented severe symptoms, three doses keeps even moderate symptoms away.

Zydus Cadila managing director Dr Sharvil Patel told Indian Express, "You know that 99 per cent of all strains that have been found in sero (surveillance) tests have been the Delta variant… Our data was in the peak of April, May, and June."

Date of release and cost of vaccine

The company, Zydus Cadila is to set to manufacture up to 12 crore doses a year. If it gets EUA approval, the production is expected to begin my mid-August, as per Dr Patel. The cost of the vaccine is yet to be decided.