Pharmaceutical major Zydus Cadila has told the Centre that it could apply for emergency use authorisation (EUA) for ZyCoV-D vaccine in the next seven-eight days. It will be the second indigenous COVID-19 vaccine to apply for such authorisation.

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It will also be the world's first DNA vaccine against coronavirus. "Zydus Cadila has told the government that it could apply for emergency use authorisation for ZyCoV-D vaccine in the next seven-eight days", a government source said. ZyCoV-D is a DNA COVID vaccine, which carries the genetic code for that part of a virus that triggers the immune system of the body.

Niti Aayog Member (Health) Dr VK Paul said that Cydus Cadila has enrolled more than 28,000 volunteers for their phase three study. "We are hoping that they will apply in near future. Most of their study is complete. They have enrolled more than 28,000 volunteers in their phase 3 study. We expect they will submit the results very soon. We are hopeful of this vaccine because it would be the world's first DNA vaccine. We are very proud of their work", he said.

The vaccine is being developed with support from the Centre's National Biopharma Mission as part of the Biotechnology Industry Research Assistance Council, Department of Biotechnology. India has approved three vaccines against COVID-19 -- Covaxin (Bharat Biotech), Covishield (Serum Institute), and the Russian Sputnik V.

Covishield has been developed by AstraZeneca and Oxford University. ZyCoV-D, the second indigenous vaccine after Bharat Biotech's Covaxin, is a three-dose vaccine -- to be administered at day 0, day 28, and day 56. The company has said it is also working on a two-dose regimen of this vaccine. The stability data of the vaccine candidate showed that ZyCoV-D can be stored at 2 to 8 degrees Celsius for long-term use and 25 degrees Celsius for the short term.