Covaxin booster dose trial shows 'long-term safety with no serious adverse events', claims Bharat Biotech

Bharat Biotech has said the Covaxin booster dose trial has demonstrated "long-term safety with no serious adverse events", news agency ANI reported.

The vaccine maker said 90 per cent of the recipients of the booster dose had a "detectable neutralising antibody response" against the wild-type strain six months after the second Covid dose.

Commenting about the trial results, Dr Krishna Ella, Chairman and Managing Director of Bharat Biotech, said, "These trial results provide a strong foundation towards our goal to provide Covaxin as a booster dose. Our goals of developing a global vaccine against COVID-19 have been achieved with the vaccine indicated for adults, children, 2 dose primary and booster doses. This enables the use of Covaxin as a universal vaccine."

The Hyderabad-based vaccine manufacturer yesterday said that it has received reports of COVID-19 vaccines other than Covaxin are being administered in children of age group 15-18 years in the country and urged healthcare workers to ensure administration of Covaxin as it is the only approved COVID vaccine for this particular population category.

"We have received several reports of other COVID-19 vaccines being administered to individuals in the 15-18 years age group. We humbly request healthcare workers to be highly vigilant and ensure that only Covaxin is administered to individuals in the 15-18 years age group," read a Bharat Biotech release.

COVID-19 vaccination program for children aged between 15 and 18 years has been started from January 3, 2022.

Earlier, the company had proposed the booster dose for those who have been already been innoculated with Covishield and Covaxin vaccines.

(with inputs from sources)