A recent study has found that Bharat Biotech‘s COVID-19 vaccine, Covaxin, is effective against all the key coronavirus variants, including B.1.167 and B.1.1.7, which were first identified in India and the United Kingdom, respectively.
According to a study conducted by India’s National Institute of Virology and the Indian Council of Medical Research, Covaxin “produced neutralising titres (concentration of antibodies) against all key emerging variants”.
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Sharing the research, Suchitra Ella, the co-founder and Joint Managing Director of Bharat Biotech, tweeted, “Covaxin gets international recognition yet again, by scientific research data published demonstrating protection against the new variants. Yet another feather in its cap.”
“Our efforts speak volumes of our strong vision & mission enabling global public health. prevent covid, protect India,” she added.
Covaxin is one of the three vaccines that are being used in the nationwide COVID-19 inoculation drive. The other two vaccines are Oxford/AstraZeneca and Serum Institute’s Covishield and Russia’s Sputnik V.
Meanwhile, India’s drug regulator has granted permission for conducting the phase II/III clinical trial of Bharat Biotech’s Covaxin in the age group of 2 to 18 years, the Union Health Ministry said on Thursday.
Amid the shortage of vaccine, the central government has assured that it is willing to scale up production by roping in other companies to manufacture Covaxin.
“People say that Covaxin should be given to other companies for manufacturing. I am happy to say that Covaxin manufacturing company (Bharat Biotech) has welcomed this when we discussed it with them,” NDTV reported quoting NITI Aayog member VK Paul.
The Centre has also said that over two billion vaccine doses will be made available in the country in five months between August and December, enough to vaccinate the entire population.
