Govt expert panel to review Bharat Biotech s COVID-19 vaccine Covaxin today
Experts will review the indigenously developed vaccine a day after the Subject Expert Committee (SEC) had recommended Serum-Oxford s Covishield COVID-19 vaccine to the Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) for emergency use authorisation
BusinessToday.In | January 2, 2021 | Updated 16:22 IST
Covaxin has been developed by Indian biotechnology firm Bharat Biotech in collaboration with ICMR
A panel of government experts will today review Covaxin s emergency use application. The COVID-19 vaccine has been developed by Indian biotechnology firm Bharat Biotech in collaboration with the country s top medical research organisation - Indian Council for Medical Research (ICMR).
After extensive deliberations on Friday and Saturday, the SEC which comprises independent experts recommended grant of permission to Bharat Biotech for restricted use in emergency situation in public interest as an abundant precaution, in clinical trial mode, specially in the context of infection by mutant strains .
Explaining the official statement, a senior official said Covaxin has been developed on a platform with the whole virus or inactivated virus. Such vaccines are generally active against any strain and are effective even if the virus mutates (such as the UK strain) because it targets the whole virus and not just any particular strain. Keeping this in mind, SEC has recommended EUA even as the candidate is in a clinical trial mode with Phase 3 trials going on, he said.
Updated:
K. VijayRaghavan flags increased transmissibility of strain.
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Health officials conducting Covid vaccination dry run at Urban Health Centre, Prakash Nagar in Vijayawada on Monday.
| Photo Credit: RAJU V
K. VijayRaghavan flags increased transmissibility of strain.
There is no evidence that current vaccines will fail to protect against COVID-19 variants reported from UK or South Africa, Principal Scientific Advisor K. VijayRaghavan said at a Health Ministry press conference on Tuesday.
Stating that while most vaccines do target the spike protein, in which there are changes in the variants, Prof. VijayRaghavan noted that the vaccine also stimulates the immune system to produce a wide range of protective antibodies and the mutations are not sufficient to make the vaccine ineffective.
Mumbai Gives Cold Response To Covaxin Trials, Not Enough Volunteers Mumbai Gives Cold Response To Covaxin Trials, Not Enough Volunteers The cold response of the masses to the trials have prompted an appeal from the head of the Sion Hospital seeking volunteers for the crucial procedure.
Local municipal councilor, Nehala Shah, has blamed lack of awareness for the fiasco (Representational)
Mumbai:
The people of Mumbai have not shown the expected enthusiasm in participating in the phase 3 trials of Covaxin, a homegrown anti-Covid vaccine being developed by Bharat Biotech in collaboration with the Indian Council For Medical Research or ICMR, sources say. Out of 2,000 people required to hold trials in two government-run hospitals of the Maharashtra capital, only 750 have volunteered so far, officials say.
Children of migrant workers in New Delhi wearing protective face masks wait to cross the border to Uttar Pradesh, 2020. Photo: Reuters/Adnan Abidi.
On December 16, a second inquest into the death of nine-year-old Ella Kissi-Debrah, in the UK, concluded that dangerous levels of air pollution caused her death in 2013 from a fatal asthma attack. This decision came on the back of several years of campaigning by Ella’s mother Rosamund and others, who argued that high levels of air pollution, due to the presence of a busy motorway near their home, contributed to her respiratory condition. This first of its kind direct attribution of air pollution on a death certificate sets a legal precedent that will hopefully put to rest denials heard around the world, and especially in India, questioning the links between air pollution and premature death.