COVID-19 Vaccine Update: Covaxin may be Launched in 2021

COVID-19 vaccine could be launched soon. COVID-19 infections are raging like a wild fire across the country, making India the second worst hit country after the US.

India's first indigenous coronavirus vaccine, Covaxin developed by Bharat Biotech, may be launched in early 2021.

The vaccine has successfully completed Phase 1 trials and the Center has given its approval for Phase 2 of clinical trials from September 7.

‘India has become the second worst hit country by the novel coronavirus after the US with 42,80,442 cases since the first was reported on January 30. Amidst this scenario, the vaccine named COVAXIN could be launched soon.’
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Speaking to IANS, Sanjay Rai, Professor, Community Medicine, and Principal Investigator for Covid-19 vaccine trial at AIIMS, said: "Phase 1 trial has been successfully completed. Phase 2 trial is most likely to get completed sometime in October. After this, the Phase 3 trial will begin. Covaxin may be launched in early 2021 (after completion of all trial stages)."

In the first phase of the Covaxin trial, 375 participants were given vaccine across 12 locations. From July 20 onwards, AIIMS began human trials of Covaxin on 100 healthy volunteers aged between 18 and 55 years.

In Phase 1, the blood samples collected from the volunteers were monitored for side effects. Covaxin is an "inactivated" vaccine, which injects doses of the virus that have been killed, aiming to prompt the body to build antibodies, and in this process the virus does not pose a threat.

On a comparison of Covaxin with Russia's Covid-19 vaccine, Rai insisted that Covaxin is better placed than the Russian vaccine.

He added that Covaxin and the Oxford University-AstraZeneca vaccine candidate in India are almost at the same level in the clinical trials, though the Oxford vaccine has reached Phase 3 clinical trials in Britain, Brazil and South Africa.

Coronavirus
Coronaviruses infect animals, humans, and birds. Human coronaviruses, such as SARS, MERS, and 2019-nCoV cause respiratory distress and even death. The S protein is the infectious agent of the virus.

India on Tuesday reported more than 75,000 new coronavirus cases, and the death toll climbed to 1,133, the highest single-day spike in fatalities so far.

India is now the the second worst hit country by COVID-19 after the US with 42,80,442 coronavirus cases. Queried on the level of satisfaction with the vaccine trials in progress, Rai said he is content with the progress made so far, but declined to share the content of the report on Phase 2 trials so far.

Rai added that all rules and regulations are being followed while conducting Covaxin clinical trials, and nothing is being done in rush.

On when would the mass production of Covid-19 vaccine begin, Rai said: "The companies involved in vaccine production see the beginning of Phase 3 trials as a positive sign in the development of the vaccine, to take a risk and begin production."

In Phase 1, the age group profiling is done (wherein vaccine study is done on people in different age groups). In Phase 2, nearly 600 to 700 people are vaccinated, and if the vaccine performs successfully in this phase, then it progresses to Phase 3, which is called the efficacy study (in this phase, thousands of people are enrolled).

Source-IANS