New Delhi: The US’ top health institute in its official statement said, “Bharat Biotech’s COVAXIN vaccine generates antibodies that effectively neutralize both Alpha and Delta variants of COVID-19.”
The National Institute of Health (NIH) in the United States has found that Bharat Biotech’s COVAXIN vaccine is also effective like other vaccines.
The top health research institute said, “Around 25 million people have received a dose of ‘Covaxin Covid-19 vaccine’ in India and elsewhere so far.”
The National Institute of Health further added that “Results from two studies of blood serum from people who had received COVAXIN suggest that the vaccine generates antibodies that effectively neutralize the B.1.1.7 (Alpha variant) and B.1.617 (Delta) variants of SARS-CoV-2, first identified in the United Kingdom and India, respectively,”
The adjuvant used in COVAXIN, Alhydroxiquim-II, was discovered and tested in the laboratory by the biotech company ViroVax LLC of Lawrence, Kansas with support exclusively from the NIAID Adjuvant Development Program, NIH said.
Anthony S. Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) also said that “Ending a global pandemic requires a global response, and I am pleased that a novel vaccine adjuvant developed in the United States with NIAID support is part of an efficacious COVID-19 vaccine available to people in India.”
Unpublished interim results from the Phase 3 trial indicate that the vaccine has 78 percent efficacy against symptomatic disease, 100 percent efficacy against severe COVID-19, including hospitalization, and 70 percent efficacy against asymptomatic infection with SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19.
The Union Health Ministry’s latest provisional report suggested that more than 36.51 lakh vaccine doses were administered in India on June 29 and with that, the cumulative number of COVID-19 vaccine doses administered in the country crossed 33.28 crores.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched the nationwide vaccination drive on January 16, with healthcare workers at the frontline of India’s COVID-19 battle getting their first jabs. The country began the second phase of the vaccination drive from March 1 in which everyone above 60 years of age and those over 45 years with comorbidities could start getting the vaccine.