Home Articles India is studying new Covid-19 subvariant ‘AY.4.2’; pricing of ZyCoV-D vaccine being...
KEY STORY
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The new subvariant of the Covid-19 virus that has been detected in the United Kingdom is currently under scrutiny by the Indian Council for Medical Research (ICMR) and the National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), the central government said on Tuesday.
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“A team is investigating the new Covid-19 variant AY.4.2… ICMR and NCDC teams study and analyse the different variants. It would be wrong to say how contagious it is now. Let the variant be investigated,” Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya said during a press conference in New Delhi today.
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The UK Health Security Agency had last week said that it was investigating the AY.4.2 strain as it could possibly be more transmissible than the Delta variant. However, there is no evidence to prove that it causes more severe infection or is ineffective against the vaccine.
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Commenting on the World Health Organization’s (WHO) approval of indigenous vaccine COVAXIN, manufactured by Bharat Biotech, Mandaviya said that “WHO has a system” to decide on such things.
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“WHO has a system in which there is a technical committee which has approved it (Covaxin), while the other committee is meeting today. The approval for Covaxin will be given on the basis of today’s meeting. We are hoping to get a decision on this today,” the Health Minister said.
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Regarding the Zydus Cadila vaccine ZyCoV-D, Mandaviya said that there is a discussion underway to finalise the pricing of the new vaccine.
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“Children’s vaccine ZyCoV-D’s pricing is under discussion. After they got the emergency use approval (EUA), the manufacturing started. It will be soon rolled out soon,” he said.
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The Health Minister also said that the Centre is extremely cautious “since this is the matter of kids”.
CONCLUSION
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“There is no interference from the government. The Drugs Controller General of India takes their decision. It won’t be appropriate for us to comment on it,” he added.
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Meanwhile, more documents have been sought from Bharat Biotech for EUA approval of Covaxin for kids.
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Taking stock of the reports of Zika virus in Kanpur, he said that authorities as assessing the situation closely.
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Mandaviya will meet Health Ministers of states tomorrow over the ramping up of vaccine administration.