Union Minister Jitendra Singh unveiled an Omicron-specific mRNA-based booster vaccination for Covid on Saturday.

GEMCOVAC-OM is Indias first mRNA vaccine, developed by Gennova with financing from the Department of Biotechnology (DBT) and the Biotechnology Industry Research Assistance Council (BIRAC), according to a statement.

The office of the Drug Control General of India (DCGI) approved this vaccination for Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) a few days ago.

GEMCOVAC-OM is the fifth vaccine produced with help from Mission COVID Suraksha, which is being executed by DBT and BIRAC as part of the governments Atmanirbhar Bharat 3.0 package for the rapid development of COVID-19 vaccines.

According to Singh, this future-ready technology platform can be utilised to produce new vaccines in a relatively short period of time.