India's own coronavirus vaccine COVAXIN developed by Bharat Biotech could be launched as early as February 2021 after the last stage trials began a couple of weeks ago, Reuters reported quoting a senior government official. According to news agency, a senior ICMR scientist Rajni Kant said, "The vaccine has shown good efficacy. It is expected that by the beginning of next year, February or March, something would be available." Rajni is also a member of ICMR's coronavirus vaccine task-force.
COVAXIN | All you need to know about Bharat Biotech's covid vaccine
Bharat Biotech, which recently received approval to conduct Phase III human trials of India's first indigenous coronavirus vaccine, Covaxin, has said that the vaccine has been found to be safe without any major adverse events in the first two stages of trials and that its goal is to attain strong immune response rate in clinical trials.
Sai Prasad, Executive Director, Bharat Biotech International Limited (BBIL), told IANS that Phase I data for neutralising antibodies has shown good immunogenicity.
"Covaxin was found to be safe without any major adverse events in the first two stages of the trials involving about 1,000 participants. Having received the approval from DCGI after assessing data from Phase I and II as well as the results of animal challenge study, we have moved into the last phase of trials," he said.
"Our goal is to develop and deliver to the world a safe and effective vaccine. Phase I data for neutralising antibodies had shown good immunogenicity. Analysis of Phase II data is on," he said when asked to comment on the view by some experts that early vaccines may not be fully effective.
"We have tested four different strains (clades) in India and done work on functional immunological assays, which will show us if this generates T-cell response, memory response," he added.
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