NEW DELHI
The results of the effectiveness of Covaxin, the COVID-19 vaccine made locally in India, were welcomed by health experts, who hope to boost the country’s inoculation campaign.
“We hope that the vaccine’s confidence and acceptability will increase now. We can also hope that the country’s vaccination campaign will have a boost now,” said Dr. Lalit Kant, former head of the Division of Epidemiology and Communicable Diseases Division of the Indian Council on Medical Research. Anadolu Agency.
“I think it is a great achievement for India because they made the vaccine from scratch,” he said. Kant, however, says that companies need to present a thorough analysis. “Then we will know the real effectiveness of the vaccine,” he said.
Covaxin is made by the pharmaceutical company Bharat Biotech in collaboration with the Indian Medical Research Council.
On Wednesday, the company announced interim clinical results based on efficacy data in its Phase-3 clinical trial that indicated that Covaxin is 81% effective.
In January, when the government announced the approval of two vaccines, questions arose about the “premature” approval of Covaxin, as it had not yet completed Phase-3 testing.
There have been reports of reluctance to get the coronavirus vaccine in various parts of the country since the government started its vaccination campaign in January.
“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 now report data on our COVID-19 vaccine from Phase 1, 2 trials and 3 involving about 27,000 participants, “said the company in a press release.
According to the company, the vaccine is also highly effective against emerging variants.
“It is significant against emerging variants,” said Dr. Krishna Ella, president and managing director of Bharat Biotech.
“Covaxin demonstrates a trend towards high clinical efficacy against COVID-19, but also significant immunogenicity against rapidly emerging variants,” he added.
Dr. Lakshmi PVM, a professor in the Department of Community Medicine at the Graduate Institute of Education and Medical Research, told Anadolu Agency that people will now be more comfortable with him.
“It is a good development. It will help in a way that people are more comfortable getting this vaccine, “she said, adding:” There has been some reluctance to this vaccine. I think it will pass with the announcement of the results. “
Indian government statistics also show that the number of doses of Covaxin is much lower compared to the Covishield vaccine manufactured locally by the Serum Institute of India, based in Pune, and developed by Oxford University and AstraZeneca.
The results of the Phase 3 tests came at a time when India is carrying out Phase 2 of the COVID-19 vaccination across the country. According to the Indian Ministry of Health, more than 16 million doses of vaccines have been administered across the country so far.
Earlier this week, when the country began the second phase of vaccination, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi received his first dose of the Covaxin vaccine.
The total number of cases in the country was 11,173,761 on Friday morning, with 157,548 deaths.
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