It has been revealed that Covaxin, the vaccine being developed by Bharat Biotech, with the aid of Indian Council of Medical Research to battle the novel coronavirus, COVID-19 has shown successful phase 1 results, the Economic Times reported on Friday.
According to the report, 375 people were tested across 12 sites in the country. Two doses of the vaccine are being administered into volunteers.
However, there are several more trials that are required to be done before the vaccine is available in the market. Phase 2 involves testing a larger group of people from different age groups and Phase 3 will involve testing of an even larger group, as the Oxford vaccine has revealed.
Notably, a number of people on Twitter were excited, although there were others who felt that India was rushing into producing its vaccine, as this National Herald article has revealed.
A letter from the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) claiming to launch the first indigenous COVID-19 vaccine is doing the rounds on social media. The letter claims that the vaccine will be made available to the public on August 15.
ICMR in the letter said, "This is to bring to your kind attention that ICMR has partnered with Bharat Biotech International Limited (BBIL) to fast-track clinical trials of the indegenous COVID-19 vaccine (BBV152 COVID Vaccine)."
"This the first indigenous vaccine being developed in India and is one of the top priority projects which is being monitored at the top-most level of the Government. The vaccine is derived from a strain of SARS CoV-2 isolated by ICMR-National Institute of Virology, Pune. ICMR and BBIL are jointly working for the pre-clinical trial sites involved in the project," the letter reads.
It further adds, "It is envisaged to launch the vaccine for public health use latest by 15th August 2020 after completion of all clinical trials."
