ICMR chief assures safety of BBL's COVAXIN; says 'Has advantage over other vaccines'

With the Drug Controller General of India (DCGI) VG Somani allowing Bharat Biotech - ICMR's 'COVAXIN' vaccines for restricted use in an emergency situation, ICMR on Sunday, tweeted that COVAXIN has the potential to mount a resistance against the new mutants of Coronavirus (COVID-19). ICMR chief Dr Balram Bhargava said that the SEC group had taken all scientific data into consideration and hence vaccination will start soon. Stating that the Bharat Biotech's vaccine may have an advantage over other vaccines as it 'targetted the whole virus', Dr Bhargava said Phase-1 and Phase-2 data were available.

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ICMR: 'COVAXIN may have advantage over other vaccines'

Speaking to Republic TV, Dr. Balram Bhargava said, "Today is the great day for science and humanity. India will be supplying vaccines in many countries. We have large stockpiles of both these vaccines, so hopefully, we will soon start the vaccination starting with frontline workers".

Talking about COVAXIN's safety, he added, "The SEC group met twice and they have taken all the science into consideration. Phase-1, Phase-2 data is also available, I would not like to comment on them. Bharat Biotech vaccine may have an advantage over other vaccines because it is targetting the whole thing. If there is a target of 1000 points, it is targetting all 1000 points while other vaccines are targetting 2 points or three points".

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Vaccine politics

After the DCGI's nod to COVAXIN and COVISHIELD, Jairam Ramesh said that Phase 3 trials protocol have been modified for the Bharat Biotech vaccine candidate, urging Health Minister Harshvardhan to clarify on the same. Meanwhile, Shashi Tharoor stated that the DCGI 'approval was premature and could be dangerous', opining that its use should be avoided till full trials are over. Their doubts over COVAXIN has been slammed by several politicians included ex-Congress member Sanjay Jha who said he will 'willing to publicly take Covaxin'.

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DCGI gives nod to COVISHIELD & COVAXIN

On Sunday, Drug Controller General of India (DCGI) VG Somani announced that the vaccines of Serum Institue of India (Covishield) and Bharat Biotech (Covaxin) have been granted permission for restricted use in an emergency situation. Covishield - a Recombinant Chimpanzee Adenovirus vector vaccine - has an efficacy of 70.42%, with interim safety and immunogenicity data of Phase-II/III trials submitted to the SEC. Covaxin - a Whole Virion Inactivated Corona Virus Vaccine - 22,500 participants vaccinated in Phase-III trials and was found to be safe as per the data available till date. Meanwhile, Zydus-Cadilla's nCov-Vaccine using DNA platform technology has been allowed to conduct Phase-III clinical trial in 26000 Indian participants. The government has stated that the first phase of the vaccination drive will be free including one crore healthcare workers and two crore frontline workers, aiming to vaccinate 27 crore priority beneficiaries until July.

india Approves SII's Covishield & Bharat Biotech's Covaxin COVID Vaccines: DCGI statement