COVID-19: India grants emergency use of Novavax vaccine for 12-17 year olds

This is the first approval in the world for the use of the vaccine in the 12-17 age group.
Last month, Novavax said its vaccine was 80% effective against COVID-19 in a late-stage clinical trial in 2,247 adolescents aged 12-17.

Thus, Covovax is the fourth COVID-19 vaccine to be licensed for use in adolescents aged 12 years and older in India, after Biological E’s Corbevax, Zydus Cadila’s ZyCoV-D, and Zydus Cadila’s vaccine. Covaxin by Bharat Biotech.

The Covovax vaccine is manufactured by the Serum Institute of India under a technology transfer agreement from the US company Novavax, in order to produce vaccines for India and low- and middle-income countries. This vaccine has been conditionally licensed by the European Medicines Agency and is on the list of vaccines for emergency use by the World Health Organization (WHO). At the end of December 2021, DCGI also approved the use of this vaccine for people 18 years of age and older in India.

India has rolled out COVID-19 vaccinations for people aged 15 and over and last week started vaccinating children aged 12-14 using Biological E’s Corbevax vaccine.