PATNA: Zydus’ ZyCov-D, a needle-free painless DNA vaccine against the novel coronavirus disease (Covid-19), is likely to be launched in five districts of Bihar in the coming week, said state health officials familiar with the development on Sunday.

The vaccine comes at a stage when Bihar has achieved 96% first dose vaccination coverage and the health officials are struggling to get the remaining population vaccinated. Response to the precautionary dose for healthcare workers (HCWs), frontline workers (FLWs), and those above 60 years of age with co-morbidity, and vaccination of adolescents in the 15-18 years age group has not been encouraging so far.

Madhubani, Jamui, Bhagalpur, Muzaffarpur, and Patna are the five districts shortlisted in the first phase for the administration of ZyCov-D vaccine, said the official quoted above.

Patna had administered ZyCoV-D to three people above 18 years of age on Friday before the state health department directed it to be put on hold. Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar is expected to launch it in the coming week.

“We administered the vaccine to 2-3 people on Friday before our superior authorities advised us to put it on hold,” said Dr Vibha Kumari Singh, Patna’s civil surgeon. She, however, did not have any idea why the administration of the vaccine was put on hold.

Patna received the supply of the vaccine from the Centre on February 3.

After its formal launch, the vaccine will be available at all three 24×7 vaccination centers, including the Patliputra Sports Complex, Gurunanak Bhawan Vaccination Centre, and Polytechnic College, Patliputra in Patna, said the official.

This vaccine will encourage more people to get inoculated in Bihar. Nearly 11,37,14,094 people have received their doses so far in the state and after the launch of this new vaccine, the numbers are believed to increase.

ZyCoV-D is the first plasmid DNA vaccine. It is a three-dose vaccine to be administered intradermally using the painless PharmaJet needle-free system called Tropis on Day 0, Day 28, and Day 56, respectively.

Mansoon Mohanty, Patna district team lead, Care India, said, “This vaccine has been given restricted use license for emergency situations in India. It does not have a marketing authorisation, however, this approval for the restricted use in emergency situations grants permission for the vaccine to be used for active immunisation of individuals aged 18 years and older for the prevention of coronavirus disease.”

“Each 2mg dose consists of two shots of 0.1ml each given by needle-free injector via intradermal route at two separate sites, preferably deltoid region of both the arms,” he said.

Moreover, this new vaccine can also be used in special populations such as pregnant women, lactating women, pediatric patients, geriatric patients, and elderly populations over 60 years.

“This vaccine will provide 66.6% overall efficacy for symptomatic Covid-19 cases and 100% efficacy for moderate Covid-19 cases. It is also the first Indian vaccine approved after completing rigorous standalone phases of development,” added Mohanty.