What type of vaccine is ZyCoV-D?

ZyCoV-D is a Plasmid DNA vaccine. The DNA (and RNA) vaccines—a relatively new technology developed for the first time only in the 1990s—don't introduce a weakened form of the pathogen like traditional vaccines.

At what stage is the vaccine?

In July of 2020 , Cadila Healthcare Limited announced that their vaccine for COVID-19, named ZyCoV-D, successfully completed preclinical development and had received permission to initiate human clinical trials. On 24 December , the company submitted the results of Phase I/II clinical trials conducted in over 1000 healthy adult volunteers. On 3 January , they announced that their vaccine had received approval from the Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) to start Phase III Clinical Trial of ZyCoV-D.

How is it different from Covaxin and Covishield?

Zydus vaccine has the same goal, and is likely to have the same results as the two existing homegrown vaccines, but where it differs is in the way it works.

While Phases I and II of the trials showed no side effects, it's still too early to say how it compares to the other two vaccines that have cleared all three phases of clinical trials. In the results submitted by the company, ZyCoV-D was found to be safe, well-tolerated, and immunogenic in the Adaptive Phase I/II clinical trials. “The Phase II study of the vaccine ZyCoV-D had been conducted in over 1000 healthy adult volunteers. The vaccine was found to be safe and elicited a strong immunogenic response,” it reads. However, in the absence of date from the phase 3 trials, experts are skeptical of approving the vaccine for public use. “I don't think we should be licensing vaccines where we have no indication of whether they work or not," says Dr Kang.

When will it be available?

If approved, according to Sharvil Patel, the company plans to begin production in June and launch the product in the market soon after. The company aims to produce 5 crore doses by the end of the year and is also looking to ramp up production, if possible. (This was first published on FIT and has been republished with permission.)

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Zydus Cadila Vaccine: How Is It Different? How Safe is It?

What kind of a vaccine is it? How does it compare to Covaxin and Covishield? Here’s all you need to know.

Anoushka Rajesh

Updated: 17 May 2021, 7:41 PM IST

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(This was first published on 5 March 2021 and has been republished from The Quint’s archives as Zydus Cadila's ZyCoV-D vaccine is set to complete it phase III clinical trials.)

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Published: 05 Mar 2021, 3:26 PM IST