The experimental COVID-19 vaccine candidate Covaxin from Bharat Biotech may give protection against new strains of coronavirus found in the United Kingdom, Krishna Ella, chairman, and managing director said on Tuesday.
The vaccine, developed in collaboration with the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) and the National Institute of Virology is in the country’s phase III clinical trial.
“Coronavirus is expected to have a lot of mutation and you can be rest assured this vaccine will also protect against that (mutated) virus because of two hypotheses.” So you have these two components in the inactivated vaccine. You can be assured that this vaccine will also protect against that (mutated) virus. It will also take care of these mutations,’ said Ella. He was addressing a CSIR-Indian Institute of Chemical Technology virtual program.
“Mutation is not unexpected and the virus mutates on its own to reach more number of people as it is a non-living organism.”The mutation is not unexpected and the virus mutates on its own to reach more people because it is a non-living organism.
The new SARS-CoV-2 variant genome was found in three samples at the Bengaluru National Institute of Mental Health and Neuroscience Hospital (NIMHANS), two at the Hyderabad Center for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB) and one at the Pune National Institute of Virology (NIV), the Ministry of Health said in a statement. All six of the people infected were held in isolation, the ministry added. Their close contacts were also put under quarantine, said the ministry.
Prof K Vijay Raghavan, Principal Scientific Advisor (PSA) to the Government of India, said on Tuesday that COVID-19 vaccines would operate against new virus variants found in the United Kingdom and South Africa.
In the UK and South Africa, vaccinations will work against the variants found. There is no indication that existing vaccines will not protect against these variants of COVID-19.
“Raghavan said the UK version of the virus is more “transmissible.” He believed that through physical distancing, individuals could minimize transmission and obey all public health steps.
At various clinical trial stages in India, there are six COVID-19 vaccines. In addition, three candidates for the vaccine are in pre-clinical trial phases. Pfizer, the Serum Institute of India (SII), and Bharat Biotech have applied for their COVID-19 vaccines to be approved for emergency use.
