Serum Institute of India entry into adolescents COVID-19 vaccine market

The Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) has recently granted emergency use authorization for US biotech Novavax’ (Nasdaq: NVAX) protein-based COVID-19 vaccine for adolescents aged 12 to 18 years, which will be marketed by its partner Serum Institute of India (SII) under the brand name Covovax.

SII dominates India's overall COVID-19 vaccination drive with its vaccine Covishield, under an AstraZeneca (LSE: AZN) partnership). According to the Government of India Co-Win dashboard, as of March 28, 2022, Covishield accounted for 82% of the overall vaccine doses administered in the country for all age groups. India has so far administered over 1,830 million COVID-19 vaccine doses.

This move will help SII enter the adolescents' COVID-19 vaccine market in India, says data and analytics company GlobalData, according to whom, Covovax is India's fourth COVID-19 vaccine approved for adolescents aged 12 to 18 years.