India logs 110 new Covid-19 cases
With the addition of the new cases of infections the overall caseload of the country rose to 4,50,28,163, including the JN.1 Covid variant cases.
Bharat Biotech’s nasal Covid-19 vaccine iNCOVACC, to be used as a booster dose for those above 18 years, will be rolled out in the fourth week of January and will cost Rs 800 plus GST for private hospitals and Rs 325 plus GST for government ones.
The Union Health Ministry said that those who have taken Covishield and Covaxin could take the nasal vaccine as a heterologous booster dose. The iNCOVACC has been approved by the Government of India and will be used as a heterologous booster dose for those above 18 years of age.
The world’s first intranasal vaccine iNCOVACC received both primary series and heterologous booster approval. It is the world’s first Intranasal vaccine for Covid to receive approval for the primary 2-dose schedule and the heterologous booster dose.
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The vaccine iNCOVACC had earlier received approval under restricted use in an emergency situation for ages 18 and above for a primary 2-dose schedule. Phase III trials of the vaccine were conducted for safety, and immunogenicity in 3,100 subjects, at 14 trial sites across India. The CoWIN platform will also be modified in this regard.
”India will now have more options when it comes to third doses of precautionary doses. iNCOVACC’s manufacturing plant has the double benefit of enabling faster development of variant-specific vaccines and easy nasal delivery that enables mass immunisation to protect from emerging variants of concern,” a Bharat Biotech press release said.
Bharat Biotech has set up large manufacturing capabilities at multiple sites across India, including Gujarat, Karnataka, Maharashtra, and Telangana with operations pan India.
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