New Delhi, Aug 21: Drug firm Zydus Cadila on Saturday said it is looking to supply its COVID-19 vaccine ZyCoV-D by the middle to end of September, adding the pricing of the dose will be announced in the next one or two weeks.

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.

"Post the emergency use authorisation, now we will work closely with the regulatory authorities to work on the pricing and modality of delivery of the doses of our vaccine. In next one or two weeks we will have better clarity on the pricing," Zydus Group Managing Director Sharvil Patel said in a virtual press conference.

The company hopes that "by middle to end of September, we can start supplying the vaccines, and as I said we need to scale up to 1 crore doses and we believe by October we can achieve this. We believe by October we will start producing 1 crore doses and that would mean by end of Jan we can have 4 to 5 crore doses," he added.

Asked if the company was considering partnering with other firms to scale up production of its vaccine, Patel said Zydus Cadila is actively looking at ramping up manufacturing both domestically through partnerships and also outside of the country.

The company is also seeking approval for a two-dose regimen of the vaccine, he added.

Describing the approval for Zydus Cadila's vaccine as a momentous feat, Prime Minister Narendra Modi in a tweet on Friday had said, "India is fighting COVID-19 with full vigour. The approval for world's first DNA based ''ZyCov-D'' vaccine of @ZydusUniverse is a testimony to the innovative zeal of India's scientists. A momentous feat indeed."

ZyCoV-D is the sixth vaccine to get the emergency use authorisation in the country, after Serum Institute of India's Covishield, Bharat Biotech's Covaxin, Russian vaccine Sputnik V and the vaccines of Moderna and Johnson and Johnson.

Of these, Covishield, Covaxin and Sputnik V are currently in use in India.

These vaccines are being given to only those above 18 years of age and unlike ZyCoV-D, which has three doses, these are administered in two doses.

"This is a historic milestone with ZyCoV-D, a product of Indian innovation becoming the world's first DNA vaccine being offered for human use and supporting the world's largest immunization drive," Cadila Healthcare Chairman Pankaj R Patel had said on Friday.

The company plans to manufacture 10-12 crore doses of ZyCoV-D annually, Zydus Cadila had said in a statement.

"We are particularly happy that our vaccine will contribute to this fight against COVID-19 and enable the country to vaccinate a larger population especially in the age group of 12-18 years.

"I would like to thank all the researchers, clinical trial investigators, volunteers and the regulators who have supported this endeavour," the Cadila Healthcare chairman had added.

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New Delhi(PTI): Congress leader Shashi Tharoor on Wednesday criticised the government’s move to ban online money gaming, warning that such a step would only push the industry underground and strengthen criminal networks.

He also said he had not studied the three Constitution amendment bills seeking to provide a framework for the removal of prime ministers, Union ministers, chief ministers and state ministers detained on serious criminal charges in any detail.

“On the face of it, it is difficult to say it has any problem, but obviously if anyone does something wrong they should not be a minister anyway. I don’t know if there is any other motive,” he remarked.

Discussing the bill seeking to prohibit and regulate online gaming introduced in the Lok Sabha, he said, "I had written a very long article on the argument that by banning online gaming we are simply driving it underground, whereas it could be a useful source of revenue for the government if we legalise it, regulate it and tax it."

He added that many countries have studied the issue in detail and concluded that regulation and taxation can generate funds for social causes, while bans merely enrich “criminal mafias”.

In a post on X, Tharoor recalled that he had “gone on record in 2018 urging the government to legalise, regulate and tax online gaming, rather than drive it underground by banning it, which will merely enhance the profits of the mafia”.

“It’s a pity that the government seems to have derived no lessons from the experience of other countries that have considered this issue,” he wrote.

He added that the bill should at least have been referred to a parliamentary committee “to consider all the pros and cons before rushing it into law”.

The proposed bill prohibits online money gaming and its advertisements, prescribing imprisonment or fines, or both, for violators. It differentiates such games from eSports and online social games, while calling for their promotion.