When will be Zydus Cadila's Covid-19 vaccine, ZyCoV-D available in the markets? Here's what you need to know

Ahmedabad, Aug 22: The ZyCov-D vaccine against COVID-19, which was granted emergency use authorisation (EUA) by the drug regulator, will hit the market soon as the drug firm has started its production, Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya said on the last day of his "Jan Ashirwa Yatra" in Gujarat.

Mandaviya visited many temples starting by seeking the blessings of Lord Swaminarayan at a temple at Gadhada in the Botad district earlier on Saturday. Talking to reporters in Botad about the Emergency Use Authorization granted to ZyCov-D COVID-19 vaccine manufactured by Zydus Cadila, Mandaviya said it is the world's first plasmid DNA vaccine for COVID-19 which will be administered in three shots.

"Those above the age of 12 can take the vaccine shot", he said. Mandaviya also said the company has already started production of the vaccine which will soon hit the market. The company's indigenously developed needle-free three-dose COVID-19 vaccine ZyCoV-D was granted emergency use authorisation (EUA) by the drug regulator on Friday, making it the first vaccine to be administered to beneficiaries in the age group of 12-18 years in the country.

Besides Mandaviya, whose tour concluded in his hometown Bhavnagar, the last stop for the yatra of his cabinet colleague from Gujarat, Parshottam Rupala, was the latter's hometown Amreli. Their yatras covered various districts in the Saurashtra region. Mandaviya and Rupala, who heads the Ministry of Animal Husbandry and Dairying, and Fisheries in the Union cabinet, embarked on the Yatra on Thursday to reach out to people and seek their blessings for their induction in the Union cabinet.

Accompanied by his supporters and local BJP leaders, Mandaviya was accorded a warm welcome as his cavalcade passed through different villages. Women members of BJP tied him a Rakhi on the eve of the Rakshabandhan festival. Rupala was welcomed by his supporters at the APMC at Jasdan in Rajkot.

The minister addressed a gathering at Lathi in the Amreli district in the presence of state BJP leaders and cabinet ministers Bhupendrasinh Chudasama, RC Faldu, and others. Earlier, three other Union ministers from Gujarat, namely Mahendra Munjpara, Devusinh Chauhan and Darshana Jardosh, had carried out their yatras in the state.

"Apart from thanking people for electing the BJP in elections held in the recent past, the yatras are also an exercise to establish a dialogue with people," a party release said. The BJP had last year won the by-elections to eight Assembly seats in Gujarat and also the elections to six municipal corporations and various other local bodies held earlier this year.