The Indian government on Friday approved a new nasal vaccine against COVID-19 developed by Bharat Biotech.
The vaccine will be used as a heterologous booster for COVID-19 prevention and will be first available in private hospitals, local media reports say.
India first introduced a COVID-19 vaccine -- Oxford-AstraZeneca -- in January last year.
It was manufactured under the license by the Serum Institute of India (SII) under the trade name Covishield. At the same time, Covaxin developed by Bharat Biotech was also approved.
In April last year India also approved Sputnik V developed by Russia’s Gamaleya Institute after a month earlier, the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) and India’s pharmaceutical company Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories signed an agreement for the production of 100 million doses of Sputnik V.
Among other vaccines used in India there are Spikevax, manufactured by the US company Moderna and approved in India in June, 2021, the Johnson & Johnson vaccine Jcovden, approved in August, 2021, and Zydus Cadila ZyCoV-D, approved in July, 2021.