Vaccine major Bharat Biotech on Wednesday said its COVID-19 vaccine, Covaxin, has demonstrated an interim vaccine efficacy of 81% in the phase 3 clinical trials, PTI reported. This comes amid hesitancy among users to take the Covaxin jab in the absence of the completion of the third phase trial.

Also read: Taking a shot of Covaxin or Covishield? Here’s all the side-effects you need to know about

Earlier this week, conveying a strong support for the ‘Made in India’ injection, Prime Minister Narendra Modi took a dose of Covaxin developed by Bharat Biotech and the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR).

The third phase trials involved 25,800 subjects, the largest ever conducted in India, the Hyderabad-based company said in a statement. “Today is an important milestone in vaccine discovery, for science and our fight against coronavirus. With today’s results from our Phase 3 clinical trials, we have now reported data on our COVID-19 vaccine from Phase 1, 2, and 3 trials involving around 27,000 participants,” Bharat Biotech Chairman and Managing Director Krishna Ella said, reports PTI

Covaxin demonstrates high clinical efficacy trend against COVID-19 but also significant immunogenicity against the rapidly emerging variants, he added.

Currently, India is in the middle of Round 2 of vaccination using Covaxin and Oxford-AstraZeneca’s Covishield. All those above 60 yrs of age and those above 45 with comorbidities are eligible to take the shot.

Also read: Here’s how senior citizens, 45+ with comorbidities can register for COVID-19 vaccination

The response to the first phase was somewhat lukewarm with only about half of the targeted 30 mllion receiving the shot.