Bharat Biotech’s Covaxin dispatched across India
India’s Covid-19 vaccination drive gathers pace; drugmaker to provide first 1.65 mn doses free of cost to govt
NEW DELHI: India’s vaccination drive against the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) gathered momentum on Wednesday, with Bharat Biotech shipping its vaccine Covaxin to 11 cities a day after the Serum Institute of India (SII) dispatched about 6.44 million doses of its Covishield vaccine to 14 cities from its plant in Pune.
The 11 cities where the Bharat Biotech’s indigenously developed vaccines have been sent are Ganavaram, Guwahati, Patna, Delhi, Kurukshetra, Bengaluru, Pune, Bhubaneswar, Jaipur, Chennai and Lucknow.
“After having received the government purchase order for 55 lakh [5.5million] doses, Bharat Biotech shipped the first batch of vaccines (each vial containing 20 doses)… While some shipments have arrived in the respective cities, others will be delivered later this evening,” the Hyderabad-based drugmaker said in a statement.
Most of the states that have received Covaxin will be using it in bigger health care facilities such as medical colleges so that adverse reactions post immuni
sation, if any, are better tracked as the experimental vaccine is to be given under clinical trial mode as per its regulatory approval condition.
“As per the Centre’s guideline, Covaxin is to be sent to ‘bigger facilities’, which for us will mean medical colleges. I will discuss it with the principal secretary and firm up a vaccine distribution plan tomorrow (Thursday),” said Manoj Kumar, executive director of the State Health Society, Bihar, who is also the state nodal officer for the Covid-19
vaccination.
Bihar has received 1,000 vials of Covaxin that is equal to 20,000 doses.
Individual consent has to be taken before administering Covaxin to any heath care worker, who will be vaccinated in the first phase from January 16, added Kumar.
In Odisha, Covaxin will be administered to 9,000 frontline health care workers. “Covaxin developed by Bharat Biotech will be administered to 9,000 frontline healthworkers in Bhubaneswar while Covishield of Serum Institute of India will be given to shortlisted people in all other districts across the state,” said Dr Bijay Panigrahi, nodal officer for Covid vaccination, Odisha.
While Bharat Biotech is 1.65 million doses of the vaccine free of cost to the Indian government, the remaining 3.85 million doses are being purchased at a cost of ₹295 per dose, exclusive of taxes, making the net cost of a Covaxin dose ₹206.
The government has also pro
cured 11 million doses of Covishield, developed by Oxford University and AstraZeneca Plc, from SII — the world’s largest vaccine manufacturer by volume — at a cost of ₹200 per dose, exclusive of taxes.
In case of both vaccines, recipients will get two doses four weeks apart and the effects will start showing 14 days after the second dose.
At the start of the vaccination drive beginning this Saturday, the central government plans to vaccinate 30 million health care and frontline workers (employees across government departments, the police and civic bodies). Next on the priority list are an estimated 270 million people (those above 50 years of age, and people with serious comorbidities such as diabetes and hypertension). This exercise, according to some estimates, could take at least seven months.
The government has trained 2,360 master trainers, who in turn have trained 61,000 programme managers, 200,000 vaccinators and 370,000 other vaccination team members so far.
Covaxin is an indigenous Covid-19 vaccine developed in collaboration with the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) and the National Institute of Virology (NIV).
This inactivated vaccine is developed and manufactured in Bharat Biotech’s BSL-3 (BioSafety Level 3) biocontainment facility in Hyderabad. The vaccine received restricted emergency use approval under clinical trial mode by the national drugs controller earlier this month, even as experts have raised questions on the approval granted for Covaxin as it is still in Phase 3 trials.
Bharat Biotech said the product development and clinical trial data have so far generated five publications, which have been submitted to international peer reviewed journals, four of which have been accepted and will be published soon.
The publication of phase 2 trial data is undergoing the peer review process.
“This vaccine has also shown to generate memory T cell responses, for its multiple epitopes, indicating longevity and a rapid antibody response to future infections. Its most critical characteristic is the demonstrated safety profile, which is significantly lower than several other vaccines with published data…,” it added.
Covaxin, like Covishield, can be stored at temperatures ranging from 2-8° Celsius.
Vaccine recipients will not get to choose which shot they take, Serum’s Covishield, or Bharat Biotech’s Covaxin. “Several countries in the world are using more than one Covid-19 vaccine to inoculate their citizens. In none of these countries are beneficiaries being offered an option of choosing which vaccine to take,” said Union health secretary Rajesh Bhushan had said on Tuesday.
On Wednesday, the vaccines procured by the Centre were dispatched to small cities and towns. As the vials began reaching their destinations, in readiness for the pan-India vaccination drive that will be launched on Saturday, states firmed up their plans and fine-tuned logistical details.
In Delhi, where the drive will begin in 89 centres, chief minister Arvind Kejriwal said the Delhi government will provide the vaccine free if the Centre fails to do so.
So far, 362,870 people have registered themselves for a shot.
The US will also expand “partnerships and capabilities that limit China’s ability to coerce allies and partners”, the document adds.
In order to counter China’s intelligence activities, the US will equip its allies and partners to counter “China’s clandestine activities in their countries” and expand American intelligence and law enforcement activities that counter “Chinese influence operations”.
The US will also help allies and partners develop high standards in counterintelligence, counter-proliferation, cyber-security and industrial security.
China’s “predatory economic practices” freeze out foreign competition, undermine US economic competitiveness, and abet the “Chinese Communist Party’s aspiration to dominate the 21st century economy, and the US will build “international consensus that China’s industrial policies and unfair trading practices are damaging the global trading system”, according to the strategy document.
While seeking to maintain the American industry’s innovation edge vis-a-vis China, the US will work with allies to “prevent Chinese acquisition of military and strategic capabilities.”