The health ministry has added Bharat Biotech’s intranasal vaccine to the country’s Covid-19 vaccination programme. Union health minister Mansukh Mandaviya said on Friday the vaccine has been approved for booster doses since it would be easy to administer.
The vaccine, iNCOVACC, will soon be available on the CoWin vaccination portal. The Drugs Controller General of India has already approved it as a booster and heterologous dose.
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According to Bharat Biotech, the intranasal vaccine is easy to deploy in mass immunisation campaigns as it is cost-effective with an easy-to-administer formulation and delivery device. iNCOVACC remains stable at 2-8°C enabling easy storage and distribution. It can be given as a booster dose to those who have received Covishield, Covaxin or any other Covid-19 vaccine approved in the country.
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According to the health ministry data, only 27% of the population above the age of 12 has taken the precautionary doses, while 97% have received their first dose and 90% their second dose. Only 223.5 million precautionary doses have been administered till date. Nearly 78% in the 18-59 years remain to be covered and 60% of those above 60 have not taken precautionary shots.