SII begins production of 'Covovax' at Pune facility; CEO Poonawalla calls it a milestone

The Serum Institute of India (SII) announced that it has reached a new milestone in vaccine production, as the manufacturing of the first batch of Covovax vaccine began at its Pune facility on Friday. The SII is producing Novavax's COVID-19 vaccine in the country under the name Covovax.

“A new milestone has been reached; this week we began our first batch of Covovax (a COVID-19 vaccine developed by Novavax) at our facility, here in Pune: Serum Institute India," the company shared on Twitter.

SII CEO Adar Poonawalla also took to Twitter and shared glimpses of the first batch of Covovax being manufactured at its facility in Pune. “The vaccine has great potential to protect our future generations below the age of 18. Trials are ongoing,” he wrote.

The SII is hoping to launch ‘Covovax’ in India by September as its trials are in an advanced stage of completion, Poonawalla had earlier said. Last September, Novavax announced a manufacturing agreement with SII for its COVID-19 vaccine NVX-CoV2373. The trial of Covovax in India is likely to conclude by November and the manufacturer can apply for a vaccine license in the country on the basis of the global data of the trial.

Covovax vaccine efficacy

In a statement on June 14, Novavax had stated its vaccine candidate demonstrated 100% protection against moderate and severe COVID -19 infection- 90.4% efficacy overall. The study enrolled 29,960 participants across 119 sites in the US and Mexico to evaluate the efficacy, safety, and immunogenicity of the vaccine. Covovax has demonstrated 93% efficacy against predominantly circulating variants of concern and variants of interest, Novavax said in the statement.

Last week, the government said the efficacy data of the Novavax vaccine against COVID-19 is promising and encouraging and its clinical trials are in an advanced stage of completion in India. NITI Aayog member (health) VK Paul said the data available in the public domain also indicates the vaccine is safe and highly effective.