The Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) has approved the market authorisation of Serum Institute of India's (SII) COVID-19 vaccine Covovax as a heterologous booster dose.

This vaccine can be taken as a booster dose by people who have already taken two doses of Covishield or Covaxin.

Earlier, the DCGI approved Covovax for restricted use in emergency situations in adults on December 28, 2021. It was approved for teenagers aged between 12-17 on March 9, 2022, and for children aged 7 to 11 on June 28, 2022, subject to certain conditions.

Covovax is manufactured through technology transfer from Novavax. It has been approved by the European Medicines Agency for conditional marketing authorization. It was granted an emergency-use listing by the World Health Organization (WHO) on December 17, 2021.

Recently, Bharat Biotech's nasal Covid vaccine for adults above 18 years was approved by the Government of India and will also be used as a heterologous booster dose.

The vaccine will be available in private hospitals and will be included in the Covid-19 list of vaccines.

iNCOVACC is the world's first Intranasal Vaccine to receive both Primary series and Heterologous booster approval.

(with inputs from ANI)