NEW DELHI: Covaxin, India’s first indigenously developed Covid19 vaccine so far, has an overall 78 % interim clinical efficacy and 100 % efficacy against serious disease, BHARAT Biotech and ICMR said on Wednesday announcing results of phase 3 efficacy trial.
ICMR under the Union ministry of health and family welfare, which is codeveloper of the vaccine, also said that the vaccine has been found to effectively neutralise “most variants” of SARS CoV 2 including the UK, Brazilian and even the double mutant strain, now rampant in few states including Maharashtra. In a joint statement, the Hyderabad-based vaccine maker and ICMR said that the latest efficacy results are based on the second interim analysis by accruing more than 87 symptomatic cases.
Due to the recent surge in cases, 127 symptomatic cases were recorded, resulting in a point estimate of vaccine efficacy of 78% against mild, moderate, and severe Covid-19, they announced. The efficacy against severe Covid-19 disease was 100%, with an impact on reduction in hospitalizations and the efficacy against asymptomatic Covid-19 infection was 70%, suggesting decreased transmission in Covaxin recipients. The statement, however, added that safety and efficacy results from the final analysis will be available in June and only then the final report will be submitted for a peer-reviewed publication.
Krishna Ell a , chairman and managing director, Bharat Biotech, said that the efficacy data against severe Covid-19 and asymptomatic infections is highly significant, as this helps reduce hospitalizations and disease transmission, respectively. Balram Bhargava, DG of the ICMR said he was happy to note that the vaccine works well against most variants of SARS-CoV-2. “These findings together consolidate the position of our indigenous vaccine in the global vaccine landscape.”