Zydus Cadila has received approval for Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) from the Drug Controller General of India (DCGI) for ZyCoV-D .
- It is the world’s first and India’s indigenously developed DNA based vaccine for COVID-19 to be administered in humans including Children and adults 12 years and above.
- It has developed in partnership with the Department of Biotechnology, Government of India under the ‘Mission COVID Suraksha’ and implemented by BIRAC.
- This 3 dose vaccine which when injected produces the spike protein of the SARS-CoV-2 virus and elicits an immune response, which plays a vital role in protection from disease as well as viral clearance.
- The plug-and-play technology on which the plasmid DNA platform is based can be easily adapted to deal with mutations in the virus, such as those already occurring.
About DNA vaccine
- A DNA vaccine, Like other vaccines, once administered, teaches the body’s immune system to fight the real virus.
- ZyCoV-D vaccine uses plasmids or small rings of DNA, that contain genetic information, to deliver the jab between two layers of the skin.
- The plasmids carry information to the cells to make the “spike protein”, which the virus uses to latch on and enter human cells.
