New Delhi

The apex drug regulator Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) on Wednesday granted approval to India's first indigenously developed mRNA vaccine against Covid-19. It has been approved for restricted emergency use for those aged 18 years and above.

The vaccine which will be sold as GEMCOVAC-19 will be manufactured by Gennova Biopharmaceuticals Ltd., a subsidiary of Emcure Pharmaceuticals.

It is a two-dose vaccine to be administered intramuscularly at 28 days apart.

GEMCOVAC-19 is the very first mRNA vaccine developed in India and the only third of its kind to be approved for Covid-19 in the world. The Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines are the other two Covid 19 vaccines produced using this technology.

mRNA technology provide flexibility to quickly tweak the vaccine for any existing or emerging variants of the virus and this technology platform will empower India to be pandemic ready.

ALSO READ: Udaipur beheading: Muslim leaders call it 'unislamic'

Initially, Gennova Biopharmaceuticals aims to produce around 40 - 50 lakhs of doses per month.