India gives emergency approval for world’s first COVID-19 DNA jab

AUGUST 21: India has become the first nation in the world to give emergency approval to use COVID-19 DNA jabs.

India’s drug regulator has granted emergency use approval for Zydus Cadila’s COVID-19 vaccine, the world’s first DNA shot against the coronavirus, in adults and children aged 12 years and above, reported Al Jazeera.

The approval gives a boost to India’s vaccination program, which aims to inoculate all eligible adults by December, and will provide the first shot for those below 18, as the country still struggles to contain the virus spread in some states.

The vaccine, ZyCoV-D, uses a section of genetic material from the virus that gives instructions as either DNA or RNA to make the specific protein that the immune system recognizes and responds to.

Unlike most COVID-19 vaccines, which need two doses or even a single dose, ZyCoV-D is administered in three doses.

The generic drugmaker, listed as Cadila Healthcare Ltd, aims to make 100 million to 120 million doses of ZyCoV-D annually and has already begun stockpiling the vaccine.