Source::Xinhuanet
XINHUA/RSS
India's vaccine maker Bharat Biotech on Sunday said its vaccine Covaxin is effective against the more infectious B.1.617 strain of COVID-19 detected in India and B.1.1.7 strain found in Britain. The related study conducted by India's National Institute of Virology and the Indian Council of Medical Research has been published in a peer-reviewed journal, Clinical Infectious Diseases.
According to the research, Covaxin "produced neutralizing titers (meaning the concentration of antibodies) against all key emerging variants", Bharat Biotech said. "There was a modest reduction in neutralization by a factor of 1.95 was observed against B.1.617 variant compared to vaccine variant (D614G). Despite this reduction, neutralizing titer levels with B.1.617 remain above levels expected to be protective," it said. "No difference in neutralization between B.1.1.7 and vaccine strain (D614G) was observed."
Suchitra Ella, the co-founder and joint managing director of Bharat Biotech, said on social media platform Twitter: "Covaxin gets international recognition yet again, by scientific research data published demonstrating protection against the new variants." A shortage of COVID-19 vaccines has been reported in India. India's federal health ministry on Sunday morning said over 182 million people have been vaccinated in the Asian country since the vaccination drive was launched on Jan. 16 this year.
On May 1 the third phase of the COVID-19 vaccine rollout began for people aged 18 and above in India. However, the third phase of vaccination is yet to start in many places or is going on at a slower pace in wake of the severe shortage of vaccines.
ALSO READ
