Covaxin 78% efficient against mild to severe Covid

Bharat Biotech on Wednesday said its coronavirus vaccine Covaxin has shown efficacy of 78 per cent against mild, moderate and severe cases of COVID-19, as per Phase III interim analysis results.

The vaccine maker noted the second interim data of the Phase III study also showed chances of hospitalisation due to the infectious disease were reduced by 100% after taking the Covaxin jab. Due to the recent surge in cases, 127 symptomatic cases were recorded, resulting in a point estimate of vaccine efficacy of 78% against mild, moderate, and severe Covid-19 disease, Bharat Biotech said. The efficacy against asymptomatic Covid-19 infection was 70%, suggesting decreased transmission in Covaxin recipients, it added.

"Efficacy against SARS-Cov-2 has been established. Covaxin has demonstrated an excellent safety record in human clinical trials and in usage under emergency use. Covaxin is now a global innovator vaccine derived from R&D in India," Bharat Biotech Chairman and Managing Director Krishna Ella said. The efficacy data against severe Covid19 and asymptomatic infections is highly significant, as this helps reduce hospitalisations and disease transmission, respectively, he added. The protocols for manufacturing, testing and release of inactivated vaccines have been tried, tested and validated across several of company's vaccines. These also meet the requirements of WHO as well as Indian and other regulatory authorities, Ella said.

"These protocols have delivered consistent results over a 15-year period with more than 300 million doses supplied globally, with excellent safety and performance record," he added. Bharat Biotech said safety and efficacy results from the final analysis will be available in June. The final report will be submitted to a peer-reviewed publication.

The Phase III study for Covaxin enrolled 25,800 participants between 18-98 years of age, including 10 per cent over the age of 60, with analysis conducted 14 days post the second dose. Covaxin has been developed with seed strains received from the National Institute of Virology.

Meanwhile, ICMR said on Monday Covaxin neutralises multiple variants of SARS-CoV-2 and effectively neutralises the double mutant strain as well. ICMR cited the findings of a study carried out by them.