Serum Institute’s Covovax will be available on CoWIN as a heterologous booster dose.
According to a tweet by Adar Poonawalla, CEO and owner of Serum Institute, the vaccine is “now available on the CoWIN app.”
Covovax, developed by the Serum Institute in partnership with the US-based Novavax, is a recombinant spike protein nanoparticle vaccine. The vaccine is administered intramuscularly in two doses, with SII recommending a gap of three weeks between the jabs.
“As COVID cases have been rising again with Omicron XBB & its variants, it can be severe for the elderly. I’d suggest for the elderly, mask up and take the Covovax booster which is now available on the COWIN app. It is excellent against all variants & is approved in the US & Europe,” he wrote on Twitter.
Covovax being a heterologous booster means it can be administered to those who have already been vaccinated with Covishield or Covaxin.
The Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) had already approved Covovax’s market authorisation for individuals who have received two doses of either Covishield or Covaxin in January 2022.
In the past 24 hours, India reported 5,676 new positive cases and 21 deaths with a daily positivity rate of 2.88 per cent and a weekly positivity rate of 3.81 per cent. The active Covid caseload in India was 37,093 on Tuesday. On a 24-hour basis, there were 15 deaths – three each from Delhi, Punjab, and Rajasthan, two from Karnataka, and one each from Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, Gujarat and Haryana.