Pune based Serum Institute of India’s (SII) Covid-19 vaccine ‘Covovax’ for children aged 7 to 12 years was given restricted emergency use authorization (EUA) by the Drugs Controller General of India (DGCI) on Tuesday.

The DGCI’s Subject Expert Committee (SEC) had earlier recommended emergency use authorization for Covovax for children in the age group 7 to 11 years, reported ANI.

It may be noted that the DGCI had earlier restricted emergency approval to Covovax for children between 12 to 17 years of age under certain conditions.

The vaccine from SII was made available for children between 12 to 17 years of age on the CoWIN portal in May. The gap between two doses of the Covovax vaccine is 21 days.

Meanwhile, the DGCI has already approved the restricted emergency approval for Biological E’s Corbevax for children aged 5 to 12 years and Bharat Biotech’s Covaxin for those between 6 to 12 years of age.

However, they still await the approval of National Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation (NTAGI).